Monday night, 18,244 spectators were glued to their seats for over three hours in the downtown Minneapolis stadium. Karl-Anthony Towns lit the Timberwolves’ home floor on fire.
However, despite Towns’ incredible performance, which saw him eclipse his team record with 62 points, the Wolves were unable to stop a fourth-quarter collapse. Minnesota was outscored 36–18 in the last quarter and lost 128–125 to the Hornets.
After the game, Towns said, there are no silver linings or moral victories, it was cool when they were at 15 and 30. That’s when one can try to pull out and talk about moral victories.
But being number 1 in the West and being one of the best teams in the game, there is no time for silver linings or moral victories, they have to find a way to win the games.
Towns had a stellar night
Towns had a fantastic night, making a career-high 10 three-pointers out of 15 tries, pulling down eight rebounds, and shooting 60% from the field (21 of 35). Nevertheless, the outcome of the game made it difficult for him to recognize his achievement.
When asked about the performance, Towns said, it is hard to look at the game, he was just doing his job and wanted to win it. It was one of those nights that should have ended in a win, a night like this doesn’t feel very good, maybe historic.
Towns pressed the trigger without hesitation to start the game. Immediately after on the court, the center scored seventy-four percent of his team’s points, hitting his first five shots. Towns finished the quarter with 22 points after going 4 for 4 from beyond the arc. Out of those points, just six were scored inside the paint.
Though Towns had a strong start, Charlotte was not discouraged. At the start of the second quarter, the Hornets led 42–40 thanks to their momentum. It did not last long, as Towns made his fifth and sixth three-pointers of the game in as many tries after Shake Milton’s shot.
The Timberwolves used their opportunities well
In the first half, the Timberwolves had many opportunities to take the lead with momentum-shifting plays, such as poster dunks from Towns and Rudy Gobert, but the Hornets persisted in hanging around.
Charlotte seemed unfazed by even Towns’s seventh and eighth three-pointers, which enthralled the Target Centre crowd. Towns led the Timberwolves to a club record of 44 points in the first half, but Minnesota only led by five points at the half, 69-64.
Towns began the third straight quickly, continuing where he left off. He scored six points in a row to start the quarter, then made his ninth triple of the contest to put the Wolves ahead by nine points and push their lead to 53.
Midway through the third, Towns was replaced, and Minnesota was able to generate some offense in his absence. After going scoreless in his previous game, Anthony Edwards perfectly orchestrated the offense, dishing up six assists and scoring five points.
With 11 assists through 3, the customary scoring spark matched his career high, unleashing a play-making plot that helped the Wolves to a 107-92 lead and a 14-5 surge to close the third quarter.
Yet, Charlotte would not give up, and with 8:27 left in the game, a 19-6 surge to close the third and begin the fourth made the score 113-108.
The Hornets’ bubble did not burst even after Towns broke the team scoring record; with 3:55 remaining, Nick Smith Jr. made a corner three-pointer to put the Hornets up 120-119. With the basket, Charlotte took its first lead since the second quarter’s 8:25 mark.
Following a layup by Edwards to reclaim the lead, P.J. Washington, Terry Rozier, and Brandon Miller all gave consecutive jumpers to give the Hornets their biggest lead of the contest—five. With the shot clock off, though, the Wolves had an opportunity to grab the lead thanks to four fast free throws and a miss by LaMelo Ball.
Towns drove with the timer on 12.5 seconds, and three Hornets defenders were there to intercept him. The rookie Leaky Black blocked his shot, and even though he did not receive a foul call for slapping Towns’ wrist, the Timberwolves lost the game despite a late failed prayer heave.
