Anthony Edwards forced the Minnesota Timberwolves back in it. Jaden McDaniels helped him close it out.
Edwards scored 16 of his game-high 43 points in the fourth quarter, McDaniels provided the go-ahead bucket and a timely steal and the Timberwolves rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-113 in Game 4 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Sunday afternoon at Target Center in Minneapolis.
With the victory, the Wolves take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Edwards hit a trio of 3-pointers — two coming in the first minute of the fourth quarter — as the Wolves worked their way back from the 10-point deficit, even taking a four-point lead late in the fourth. But a pair of 3-pointers from Austin Reaves and Dorian Finney-Smith put the Lakers back up by one, until Naz Reid found a cutting Jaden McDaniels for a layup.
McDaniels also drew a foul on the play and hit the free throw to give the Wolves a 114-113 lead with 39.1 seconds to go. He then proceeded to steal a pass from LeBron James, and Minnesota was able to whittle the clock all the way down to 10.7 seconds as Edwards drew a foul on James, which only came after a successful challenge by coach Chris Finch.
Edwards made both free throws to give the Wolves a three-point edge, and Reaves missed a potential game-tying 3 as the clock eventually expired. Minnesota was able to pull off the win despite Luka Doncic and James' best efforts as the Lakers star duo combined for 65 points. The Lakers also got 23 points from Rui Hachimura and 17 points from Reaves.
Reid, who was struggling for much of the night, came through for the Wolves when they needed him most. He drilled two 3s down the stretch in the fourth quarter, one that cut a five-point deficit to two and another that was a go-ahead bucket. Donte DiVincenzo, who also struggled, got to the rim for an and-1 shortly after to extend the Wolves' lead to 111-107.
"Naz shows up in the fourth quarter again, so I just told him, 'Feel free to show up for the first three any time you like,'" Finch said. "But he was there when we needed him, offensively and defensively."
The Wolves went into halftime with some momentum after Julius Randle, who finished with 27 points and seven rebounds, hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer. But that momentum was quickly wiped away in the third quarter as the Lakers opened the half on a 14-0 run. What finally stopped the bleeding was Mike Conley blocking James in transition, and Conley got banged up on the play. That provided Minnesota a brief spark, though it still went to the fourth down 10.
"I was like, 'All right old man," Edwards said of Conley's block. "He got hurt though, but he'll be alright. I'm not gonna lie, I was impressed when he blocked that. If we had been up, I probably would've been talking a little bit more trash, but they was like on a 10-0 run, so I had to pipe down a little bit. But yeah, that was dope. Big shout out to MC, man."
