The best part of the NBA is that there is a game nearly every other night and the worst part is that there is a game nearly every other night. Tonight, the Minnesota Timberwolves took on the Miami Heat. It was the Wolves' third game in four nights with another back-to-back coming on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Wolves have done well with the compact schedule so far, winning their previous three games by an average margin of over 20 points. All of those wins came against teams below .500. That trend would continue as the Heat have started the season 3-5 coming into the game tonight.
The Heat were not fully healthy coming into the game with Jimmy Butler spraining his ankle Friday night against the Denver Nuggets. Butler missing games at Target Center has become a bit of a pattern as he has not played against the Wolves in Minnesota since November 24, 2021.
Anthony Edwards would start the game off with another 3-pointer, adding to his league lead. After that, the Wolves would go cold, missing two of their 12 shots. The Heat would take advantage by pushing the ball on each of the Wolves' miss, scoring nine early fast break points to jump out to a 23-15 lead.
Minnesota's shooting struggles would continue the remainder of the first quarter, finishing 7-25 from the field including 2-12 from beyond the arc, putting them in a seven-point deficit heading into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, turnovers would begin to pile up for the Timberwolves. After only turning it over twice in the first quarter, the Wolves would commit five turnovers in the first six minutes of the second quarter, allowing Miami to build their lead to as high as 12.
With 5:41 left in the half the Timberwolves would break out of their shooting slump with Edwards starting the run with a 3-pointer. A Julius Randle layup and Naz Reid 3-pointers would setup an and-1 for Ant to cut the lead to just one.
Minnesota would continue the half playing with great ball movement including this sequence, leading to an Edwards dunk.
After shooting poorly for much of the first half, the Wolves would only trail 52-51 heading into halftime. Ant and Randle combined for 25 points for the Timberwolves. Tyler Herro led the Heat in scoring with 12.
The Timberwolves turnover issues would pop-up again to start the second half, turning it over turning it over five times in the first six minutes of the quarter. The offensive flow that was constant at the end of the first half disappeared, causing the Wolves to go down 63-56 with five minutes left in the third quarter.
That would be the moment when the game would turn for the Wolves as they would go on a 15-0 run, holding the Heat scoreless for six and a half minutes.
The Heat would score the last five points of the quarter to cut the Timberwolves lead to 71-68 heading into the final quarter of play. The game would remain close the entirety of the fourth quarter with the Wolves taking an eight-point lead with under five minutes to go int he game.
The Heat would slowly chip-away at the Timberwolves lead, cutting it down to two with under a minute left. After a Mike Conley turnover and Jaden McDaniels foul to stop an easy layup, Terry Rozier would hit two free-throws to tie the game with 30 seconds left.
With the game on the line, McDaniels would go sky-high to grab a Conley missed 3-pointer and put back in to give the Wolves the lead with nine seconds left.
After an overturned foul taking a free throw away from McDaniels, the Heat would take the lead on a Nikola Jović with Rudy Gobert noticeably not on the court.
After Herro used the Heat's foul to give and a missed 3-pointer from Conley, the Wolves fell to the Heat 95-94.
Edwards led the Wolves in scoring with 22 points, but struggled with his shot all night, going 8-24 from the floor including 4-14 from long-range. Randle, Nickeil-Alexander Walker, and Naz Reid were the other Timberwolves players with double-figure scoring.
Herro led the way for the Heat with 26 points on 9-15 shooting. Jović scored 15 points off the bench including the game winning basket.
This story will be updated throughout the night after coach and player media availabilities.
The Timberwolves head out west for back-to-back matchups with the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday and Wednesday night, the first being a game for the Emirates NBA Cup. Each game tips off at 9:00 PM CT, airing on FanDuel Sports Network North.
After that, the Wolves continue their west-coast road trip against the Sacramento Kings, their second and final game at Golden 1 Center this season. It will also be their second game for the in-season tournament.