Karl-Anthony Towns scored 11 of his game-high 33 points in the fourth quarter, Mike Conley buried a lead-extending 3-pointer with 9.6 seconds remaining and the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the Golden State Warriors 104-101 on Tuesday night in San Francisco in a game marred by three ejections, including Warriors stars Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
The win not only was the Timberwolves’ second in three days against the Warriors, but also improved them to 2-0 in the West Group C of the NBA’s in-season tournament. Golden State fell to 1-1.
Already without Stephen Curry, who sat out with a sprained right knee, the Warriors went up 98-96 on a 3-pointer by Dario Saric with 2:05 to go before Minnesota tightened the defensive clamps.
Golden State didn’t score again until just 2.1 seconds were left, a stretch during which Towns gave Minnesota the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 1:07 to go before Conley sealed the win with his 3-pointer that gave the Wolves a 102-98 advantage in the final seconds.
Kyle Anderson, whose offensive rebound led to Towns’ late 3-pointer, iced Minnesota’s seventh straight win with two free throws with four seconds left.
The trio of ejections occurred just 1:43 into the game, when Thompson and Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels grabbed a hold of each other’s jersey on their way down the court after Anthony Edwards missed a 3-pointer.
Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert was one of the first to separate the two, but in doing so, prompted Green to retaliate by placing the Minnesota big man in a headlock.
Shortly thereafter, the referees — after conferring with the NBA review officials in New Jersey — decided to eject Thompson, McDaniels and Green.
Towns added 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who trailed by as many as 12 in the third quarter.
Gobert had a game-high 13 rebounds to go with nine points and three blocks. Edwards had 20 points, Conley 13 and Naz Reid 10.
Rookie Brandin Podziemski and Saric posted season highs with 23 and 21 points, respectively, for the Warriors.
Kevon Looney was Golden State’s top rebounder with 12, while Chris Paul had 15 points and Moses Moody scored 11 in the Warriors’ fourth straight defeat.
–Field Level Media