The Timberwolves will remain atop the Western Conference standings after overcoming a second-half Anthony Edwards injury to take care of the Thunder 106-103 in their In-Season Tournament showdown in Minneapolis.
Edwards (21 points, 6-of-17 shooting) took an awkward fall on a drive with three-and-a-half minutes to play and was taken from the floor shortly after shooting the subsequent free throws.
Despite trailing by four when Edwards exited the game, the Timberwolves rallied to wrestle the lead back and grind their way to a key win.
Rudy Gobert (17 points, 16 rebounds, four blocks) dominated his matchup whilst Troy Brown Jr. (17 points, 12 in the fourth) put together his best performance of the season.
Naz Reid (15 points, 6-of-9 shooting), Karl-Anthony Towns (13 points, 10 rebounds), and Mike Conley (nine points, eight assists) also came up with big plays.
A strong opening half saw the Thunder open up an advantage as large as a dozen before the Timberwolves fought back to take the lead midway through the third.
A Brown Jr. missed free throw with less than five seconds remaining kept the door ajar for the Thunder to send it to overtime only for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s deep three to miss.
Minnesota dominated the boards and shot better percentages from the floor, the field, and the stripe but were fortunate to survive 19 turnovers which led to 21 Thunder points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32 points, 13-of-22 shooting) led the way for Oklahoma City whilst Chet Holmgren (16 points, 6-of-20 shooting) and Jalen Williams (10 points, 2-of-10 shooting) both struggled shooting.
The Thunder will be back in action when they host the Lakers on Friday whilst the Timberwolves face the Jazz the same day.
