NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 23 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points, 14 rebounds and five assists, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held off the Brooklyn Nets 107-102 on Tuesday night.
Rudy Gobert had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Mike Conley scored 18 points, nine in the fourth quarter.
Spencer Dinwiddie had 30 points and six assists, Mikal Bridges scored 24 points and Dorian Finney-Smith had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets, who had their three-game win streak snapped. Their lead over Miami for the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference was cut to one game after the Heat’s 118-105 victory in Detroit.
Similar to their first meeting, a 124-123 Nets win, the teams traded momentum in the game, which featured 24 lead changes and eight ties. But Minnesota shot 53% in the fourth quarter, and Towns gave the Timberwolves the lead for good when he made a pair of free throws with a minute remaining.
Dinwiddie had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer, but it hit the back rim.
Minnesota’s length wreaked havoc on Brooklyn’s offense early, and the Nets shot just 29% in the first quarter. Towns had six points, eight rebounds and four assists in the period, and the Wolves led 31-24 after one.
The Nets found their shooting touch in the second quarter, especially from the outside, where they made 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Finney-Smith hit a pair of 3-pointers in Brooklyn’s 11-0 run, and the Nets outscored Minnesota 30-20 in the second, taking a three-point halftime lead.
Brooklyn outscored Minnesota 26-10 over a span of 9:46 between the second and third quarters. The Nets scored the first eight points of the third, building their largest lead, 62-51.
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: Gobert’s double-double was his 34th of the season. …. Towns (right calf strain) was listed as questionable but played. Guards Jaylen Nowell (left knee tendinopathy) and Austin Rivers (illness) and forward Naz Reid (left scaphoid fracture) were inactive.
Nets: Bridges was named Eastern Conference player of the week Monday after averaging 33 points and 5.7 rebounds over three Nets wins. He entered play averaging 27.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 35.2 minutes per game in 23 games since the Nets acquired him from Phoenix on Feb. 9. … Brooklyn entered play with the NBA’s lowest opposing free-throw percentage in home games (74.4%). Minnesota went 17 for 22 from the free throw line.
UP NEXT
Timberwolves: At San Antonio on Saturday.
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