Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau at Tuesday's morning shootaround before a game against Indiana agreed with what the NBA deemed during its Two-Minute Report issued Monday afternoon:
Wolves' Tom Thibodeau agrees with NBA report: "I made a mistake."
Tom Thibodeau acknowledged that he signaled for a time out that his team didn't have and a screen set by Karl-Anthony Towns for the winning shot wasn't legal.
October 24, 2017 at 7:17PM
"I made a mistake," he said.
The report determined the Thunder were done wrong not once, but twice in Sunday's final five seconds of a 115-113 buzzer-beating victory at OKC.
The league said Thibodeau signaled for a timeout his team didn't have after OKC's Carmelo Anthony's three put the Thunder ahead by a point with 5.1 seconds left.
Then it said Karl-Anthony Towns' screen on Paul George that freed teammate Andrew Wiggins for the game-winning, banked shot at the buzzer was illegal because Towns' stance was too wide.
Thibodeau said he knew his team was out of timeouts, having told them so during a timeout with nine seconds left just after Towns' floating runner had given the Wolves a 112-110 lead.
"Yeah, we talked about it. I made a mistake," Thibodeau said. "I started to call it, but we had talked about that in the timeout before with nine (seconds) to go. So we talked about not giving up the three -- because you're up two -- and then what we wanted to run. We work on stuff, because if you're down timeouts, what are you going to run to get the ball up the floor?"
In a new season when the NBA has reduced the number of timeouts late in games so it speeds the pace, Thibodeau called his signal made to a referee looking the other way instinctual. He quickly then began gesturing for his players to inbound the ball and push it up the floor.
"It was just a mistake on my part," he said. "But I realized it right away, so we just kept going."
The NBA called Towns' screen on Thunder star Paul George illegal because his stance was too wide and the two players clipped legs.
George fell on the play, allowing young Wolves star Andrew Wiggins to dribble by him before he launched a shot from between half-court and the top of the key just before the final buzzer. He even banked it, too.
The NBA called it illegal.
Did Towns consider it so, too?
"Nah, I don't care," Towns said. "We got the `W.' That's all I care about."
Now about tonight's game:
* The Pacers are without star Myles Turner, the young center they're rebuilding around now that George was traded to OKC last summer. He has missed the last two games -- both losses after an opening victory against Brooklyn in which he played -- because of a concussion and sore neck.
* Consider the Pacers Wolves East. Former Wolves players Big Al Jefferson, Thad Young, injured Glenn Robinson, Lance Stephenson and Damien Wilkins all are Pacers now. Former Wolves assistant coach Bill Bayno is on coach Nate McMillan's staff, too.
