Anthony Edwards matched his season high with 44 points, made a tiebreaking three-pointer with 1:11 to go and came up with a spectacular block at the buzzer to give the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves a 113-111 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night.
Edwards soared to reject a last-second layup by the Pacers’ Aaron Nesmith, hitting his head on the rim as time expired. He yelled, flexed his muscles and chest-bumped Rudy Gobert in celebration.
Gobert added 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who played without All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns. Minnesota moved into the top spot in the Western Conference, one-half game ahead of Oklahoma City.
“His shot was next level,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said when asked about Edwards. “Even when we double-teamed him, he got away from us. Look, he’s a great player and that’s why every second of every minute of every game matters.”
WHAT A BLOCK 😱
— NBA (@NBA) March 8, 2024
ANT EDWARDS SKIES FOR THE REJECTION TO WIN THE GAME ‼️ pic.twitter.com/W0lqPOkTzT
Edwards was masterful in Minnesota’s second straight win, accounting for the team’s final eight points while making 18 of 35 from the field with three three-pointers and six rebounds in a back-and-forth game that neither team led by more than five over the final 20 minutes.
Pascal Siakam scored 24 points and Tyrese Haliburton added 23 points and 13 assists for the Pacers, who trailed by 17 points in the first half but led 104-103 on Siakam’s powerful dunk with two minutes left. Indiana have lost three of four and is eighth in the East.
Even without Towns, Minnesota managed to hold the league’s highest-scoring team nearly 13 points below its average.
“I thought the defensive game plan was on point,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “I thought our players really executed in the first half, got a little loose in the second half. Of course, they made some adjustments, but we were able to turn them over a lot early.”
And Edwards made them pay, time after time.
Despite limping off the floor 26 seconds into the game, Edwards helped stake Minnesota to a 54-37 midway through the second quarter. He finished the first half with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Indiana trimmed the halftime deficit to 60-49, opened the second half on a 19-4 run and finally took a 68-66 lead midway through the third quarter when Myles Turner converted a Minnesota turnover into a dunk.
From there, neither team could take control – until Edwards capped his big closing flurry with the decisive block.
“Edwards is a physical player and you’ve got to play physical players physically,” Carlisle said. “It’s a tough learning thing.”
Towns will have surgery next week to address a meniscus tear in his left knee, the Western Conference-leading Timberwolves announced later Thursday night.
The All-Star will miss at least four weeks, the team said. That would mean, at minimum, Towns will be sidelined for at least 13 more games – the majority of Minnesota’s remaining regular-season schedule.
The team revealed after the game that an MRI exam, performed Wednesday, showed the meniscus tear.
“Further updates will be provided when available,” the team said.
The ninth-year forward is averaging 22.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game while making a career-best 42.3% from three-point range.
Before Thursday, he had missed only one previous game because of injury this season, for left knee soreness on 23 December, and showed no obvious signs of trouble in a victory Monday against Portland – although he played only 21 minutes, his second-lowest total this season.
