Timberwolves regain Karl-Anthony Towns but fall in overtime to Spurs

It had been just two weeks, but didn’t it seem longer?

It was Dec. 26 when, in a victory at Utah, Karl-Anthony Towns injured his left wrist. That night the Wolves left the arena 2-0. But, with Towns on the mend, they hadn’t won since, losing six straight by an average of nearly 17 points.

Saturday at Target Center, Towns returned.

The result: Competitive basketball. Exciting basketball. Overtime basketball.

But, ultimately:

Another loss. A compelling, back-and-forth game with San Antonio — the first of two games in two nights against the Spurs — ended with a 125-122 OT loss.

Dejounte Murray’s three-pointer opened the scoring in overtime, and the Spurs (5-4) never trailed again.

It was a difficult way for a very good game to end for the Wolves (2-7), who had a chance to win in the closing seconds. But D’Angelo Russell’s 20-footer with 1.4 seconds left in regulation didn’t fall.

In a game in which neither team ever held a double-digit lead, the Spurs built a six-point overtime margin and held on.

Towns finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Malik Beasley scored 29, Russell and Naz Reid 16, the latter off the bench.

Denver got 38 points from DeMar DeRozan, 22 from Murray and 21 off the bench from Patty Mills.

DeRozan’s three-point play with 55.2 seconds left put the Spurs up 109-107. At the other end Towns hit a three-pointer with 41.7 seconds to put the Wolves up a point. DeRozan promptly scored again. But, with 15.5 seconds left Russell hit a three-pointer to make the score 113-111.

Out of a timeout, DeRozan was fouled and made both free throws with 12 seconds left to tie the game at 113.

From the get-go, with Towns in the lineup there was more space on the floor for the rest of the team. Towns bobbled the ball a couple of times, perhaps getting used to the brace on his wrist. But he played well, hitting his only shot — a three-pointer — and getting three rebounds, two assists and two blocks in eight minutes of first-quarter play.

But it was Beasley who shone, scoring 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting. The Wolves led by as many as eight in the quarter, which ended with Reid banking in a three-pointer at the buzzer to put Minnesota up 34-28. It matched the Wolves season high for first-quarter points.

The Wolves led by eight early in the third quarter, before the Spurs — with DeRozan heating up after a scoreless first quarter — responded with a 9-0 run to take the lead.

Beasley and Towns each scored five second-quarter points as the Wolves stuck with the Spurs. But DeRozan, who scored 16 second-quarter points, and the Spurs pushed to a five-point lead late in the half before Ricky Rubio fed Beasley for a three-pointer to pull the Wolves within 60-58.

Towns did all he could in the third, scoring 12 points, making four of six shots and all four of his free throws and scoring 12 points.

But it was a group of mainly reserves that gave the Wolves an 85-83 lead entering the fourth.

The Spurs were up 83-75 on Rudy Gay’s jumper with 3:06 left, but San Antonio didn’t score again in the quarter.

In a 10-0 run to end the quarter Anthony Edwards scored four points and dished assists to Reid for two three-pointers, including one at the quarter’s end that put the Wolves up two.