Timberwolves Wrap: LeBron’s OT buzzer-beater lifts Cavs over Wolves

The Timberwolves had a chance to sweep the season series with LeBron James‘ Cleveland Cavaliers, but The King drained a buzzer-beater in overtime of a high-scoring game to lift the Cavs to victory.

Even though the shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers have been struggled mightily of late, when a team has LeBron James, well, anything can happen.

James took over the game late, and outside of some 3-point shooting prowess from Kyle Korver and J.R. Smith, was the only consistently player on the Cavs. Jimmy Butler was the only Timberwolf that could slow James down at all, and Cleveland responded by forcing the Wolves to switch in the pick-and-roll game.

Karl-Anthony Towns had a few cracks at stopping James but couldn’t do it, and Andrew Wiggins didn’t fare any better. LBJ beat both players one-on-one in key moments down the stretch.

After an evenly-played first quarter, the Wolves’ second unit and a late push from the starters gave Minnesota a two-point halftime lead. The third quarter saw Cleveland build a seven-point lead, however, and it felt as though the Cavs were going to take the reigns and pull away. But Tom Thibodeau called a timely timeout and Minnesota was able to stem the tide, only trailing by two heading to the final frame.

The Cavs threatened to pull away again in the fourth quarter, leading by eight points with 3:57 remaining on the clock. The Wolves used an 8-0 run to tie things up, and Karl-Anthony Towns drained a long 3-pointer, his sixth of the game, to put Minnesota up by a score of 129-126 with 54.6 seconds remaining.

But the Wolves lost contain on James in the pick-and-roll game once again, and while Towns’ contest on the 3-point attempt was okay, it wasn’t good enough as LeBron tied the game. Misses from Jimmy Butler and James at the buzzer sent the game to overtime.

The Wolves had a chance to pull away in OT, but ultimately found themselves with the ball in a tie game with exactly 24 seconds remaining. After a timeout, the Cavs switched on the Wolves’ pick-and-roll, leaving rookie Cedi Osman alone on Butler. The Wolves’ All-Star drove left, but as he put up a floater near the paint, James swooped in and blocked the shot.

J.R. Smith grabbed the rebound, and after a dribble up court, realized that Cleveland still had a timeout and called it with one second left on the clock. The Cavs then inbounded from about three-quarters court, and a long pass to James just above the free throw line from Jeff Green was perfectly placed. James turned around and drained a jumper over Butler as timed expired.

Why did the Wolves guard both Cavs in the backcourt instead of doubling LeBron? I couldn’t tell you. If there was three or four seconds left it would make sense, as any guard could get a head of steam and find a decent shot even if starting in the backcourt, but with only one second? It’s a bit baffling, to be sure.

Tweets of the Night

Key Takeaways

• While this game had an insane amount of offense, it was absolutely more a case of outstanding offensive execution than it was horrible defense. Don’t get me wrong — the defense wasn’t good. But the offense was otherworldly. And if for whatever reason you weren’t sure about that, just remember that the Wolves shot 19-of-33 (57.6 percent) from beyond the arc. Crazy.
• James was awesome. In the first half, he was just 0-for-3 shooting the ball outside the paint, but was otherwise unstoppable. In the second half, he was simply unstoppable from everywhere. The King shot 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, and despite only attempting (and missing) two free throws on the night, he had an ultra-efficient game and matched Jimmy Butler step-for-step.
• It was inescapably clear the Butler’s supporting cast is superior to James’. Kevin Love being out is an obvious issue for Cleveland, but for as thin as the Wolves are from a depth perspective, it’s a much, much better situation than where the Cavs find themselves.
• KAT was awesome. He scored 30 points on 12 shots, including knocking down all six of this 3-point attempts. He’s now hit on 10 straight threes, which is a franchise record. He did have some defensive lapses, and there was at least one instance in which he failed to sprint back on defense and was beaten for an easy dunk, leading to a Thibodeau timeout.
• Andrew Wiggins had a quiet 19 points, and made some sneakily solid defensive plays along the way. Jeff Teague was very good, too, notching a 14-point, 15-assist double-double.

Player of the Game

LeBron James: 37 points (16-22 FG, 5-7 3P, 0-2 FT), 15 assists, 10 rebounds, one steal, one block

If LeBron doesn’t block Butler’s shot with time winding down or hit the buzzer-beater, this award goes to Butler. But as it turns out, those two plays were game-clinchers. Congrats, LBJ.

Notable Box Score Lines

• Jimmy Butler: 35 points (14-21 FG, 4-5 3P, 3-3 FT), 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals
• Karl-Anthony Towns: 30 points (10-12 FG, 6-6 3P, 4-4 FT), 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, one assist, one steal
• Andrew Wiggins: 19 points (7-13 FG, 4-8 3P, 1-2 FT), 2 rebounds, one assist
• Jeff Teague: 14 points (6-12 FG, 2-4 3P), 15 assists, 3 rebounds, one steal
• Jamal Crawford: 16 points (7-13 FG, 2-5 3P), -12 plus/minus

Next: 5 bold predictions for the Wolves at the trade deadline

What’s Next?

The Timberwolves head back to the Midwest for an 8:30 p.m. CT tip-off against the Chicago Bulls in Butler’s return to United Center on Friday night. The game will be televised on ESPN.