The Timberwolves dipped below .500 (10-11) for the first time this season with a 139-127 overtime road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but Minnesota should’ve left the Sooner State with a victory.
Leading 121-120 with 1.1 seconds left in regulation and Karl-Anthony Towns at the free-throw line – and the Thunder out of timeouts – Towns rattled in a free throw only to witness Steven Adams throw a full-court pass to Dennis Schroder, who quickly made a layup to tie the game before the buzzer sounded.
Holy s*** OKC, Adams with the long bomb inbounds to Schroder to tie it pic.twitter.com/Fq4Minx0jo
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 7, 2019
Minnesota then got rocked in overtime, being outscored 17-5.
Moments before the improbably tying layup to end the fourth quarter, Minnesota led 120-121-119 with 1.1 seconds remaining, but the Wolves were called for a delay of game penalty because Jordan Bell’s jersey wasn’t tucked in when he checked into the game.
Because it was Minnesota’s second delay penalty of the game, they were issued a technical foul and Danilo Gallinari made the freebie to make it a one-point game.
“I ain’t ever been part of something like that,” said Towns, who according to ESPN said he was trying to miss the free throw at the end of the fourth quarter. “I’ve been a part of a lot of basketball games in my life, but I’ve never seen something like that happen . just the execution of everything going down.”
Chris Paul scored 30 points to lead five Thunder players who scored at least 20 points. Jeff Teague scored a season-high 32 points for the Wolves while Karl-Anthony Towns added 30.
Minnesota was without Andrew Wiggins because of a thumb injury.
Up next: Wolves at Lakers, Sunday at 8:30 p.m.
