Timberwolves squander late 16-point lead in Memphis to lose fifth straight | Brainerd Dispatch

A 16-point fourth-quarter lead, a miraculous three at the buzzer from Karl-Anthony Towns and a chance to get its season back on track after a rough first eight games.

Monday night sure looked like it would be the slump buster Minnesota so desperately needed.

Instead, it was the type of soul-crushing defeat that can potentially shove a season completely off the tracks. Memphis put an exclamation point on its dramatic late-game comeback by out-playing the Timberwolves in overtime to beat Minnesota 125-118.

It’s the Timberwolves fifth straight defeat after a 3-1 start to the season.

That the game reached overtime was inexplicable in more ways than one.

Leading by 16 points midway through the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves completely unraveled in every way possible. Minnesota shut itself down defensively, ignoring the flow it used to build the lead. It turned the ball over, failed to get back in transition and refused to do any of the simple things

Trailing by one at the end of a wild contest, with four seconds to play, Patrick Beverley couldn’t in-bound the ball before incurring a 5-second violation to turn the ball over to Memphis. It appeared to be a final fatal error in a final six minutes that featured many of them.

Ja Morant made both free-throws on the other end to put the Grizzlies up three with just 2.6 seconds to play. Without a timeout, the Wolves had to heave the ball down the floor. The inbounds pass went out of bounds off Memphis to advance the ball.

Then, with one second to play, Towns hit a heave at the horn to send the game to overtime and send the Wolves into a tizzy, flying around the court.

But, minutes later, the Wolves (3-6) were walking off that same floor showing nothing but disappointment.

Morant finished with 33 for Memphis. D’Angelo Russell scored 30 in his return from a sprained right ankle.