Anthony Edwards steals the show with 49 as Timberwolves win but wind up in play-in

The Timberwolves made sure their teammate Anthony Edwards reached a career scoring high — if not a milestone 50-point game — in Thursday's 127-121 victory over San Antonio, but in doing so they endangered a game they so needed to win.

Leading by 18 points early in the fourth quarter and by 10 with 1:21 remaining, the Wolves allowed the Spurs within four points twice in the final 10 seconds before Karl-Anthony Towns' two free throws repelled them.

Edwards scored 49 points — one more than the 48 he scored at Golden State in November — and came within a point of that magical 50. Afterward, he lamented a layup that rolled out and left him one point short.

"But it's cool, as long as we won I ain't tripping," Edwards said. "I really don't care. We won."

With an announced sellout Target Center crowd and his teammates urging him on, Edwards hoisted four unsuccessful three-point attempts in the final 66 seconds, all while the Spurs came sneaking back with eight unanswered points in the final 90 seconds.

The Wolves led 123-111 with 1:36 left and then suddenly just 123-119 with 11 seconds remaining before Edwards made two free throws to reach the career high and push away the Spurs.

"Obviously, we tried to get Ant to do something special at his age, at this time," said Wolves veteran guard Patrick Beverley, who returned Thursday after two games injured. "We played with the game a little bit and it kinda bit us, but that comes with it."

In those final ticking seconds, teammates and fans focused on getting Edwards to 50.

"That's love," Edwards said. "That's love, man. I appreciate that for sure."

Much of that came at the expense of watching the scoreboard change quickly.

"I wish we would have ended it a little better," Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "It's not a very smart way to try to end the game. We have to be better."

For a fleeting hour or so, the Wolves also stayed in contention for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, a position that would have kept them out of the NBA's new "play-in" tournament next week.

Their hopes, however, ended when sixth-place Denver beat second-place Memphis at home an hour later to ensure the Wolves will stay in seventh place and play the eighth-place Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday at Target Center. They have one regular-season game left.

Finch called his team's 46th victory this season "a big win for us" and said his team played well for 85 to 90% of it.

"We're proud of our season," Finch said. "We've got nothing to be ashamed of. We won as much as we could. We tried every night. We've got a lot of important basketball still yet to play."

Finch called Edwards' performance important because it indicates his knee issues might be behind him. Finch said he and his coaches talked to Edwards on Wednesday about being more aggressive.

"Try to be dominant more," Finch said. "We talked to him about being dominant when you can be dominant in those moments when they come."

BOXSCORE: Wolves 127, San Antonio 121

That he did on Thursday, shooting 16-for-28 from the field, including 6-for-14 on threes, and he made 11 of 14 free-throw attempts. He scored 15 points in the first quarter, five in the second, 12 in the third and 17 in the fourth.

"When you're making shots like he's making, I really like his going to the hoop, his finishing," Finch said. "He was pretty crafty. He had patience. He drew fouls. He found guys. He did it all."

The Wolves played without starting point guard D'Angelo Russell, who was a pregame scratch because of what the team termed bilateral hamstring soreness. Finch attributed it partly to a "pretty tough practice" on Wednesday.

But they got guard Patrick Beverley and his defense back after he missed two games because of right ankle soreness and started him beside Edwards and Malik Beasley.