Wolves beat Lakers 108-106 after wild ending at Target Center

Lakers forward LeBron James turned 39 on Saturday, and his birthday gifts included a pregame illness, a crucial replay review that didn't go his way, and ultimately, a 108-106 loss courtesy of the Timberwolves.

A happy birthday indeed.

The Wolves (24-7) came out on top of a physical game that lasted nearly 2½ hours and had social media zooming in on the film of James' right foot before his last bucket with 2.3 seconds to play like the footage came from Abraham Zapruder's camera.

James was attempting to gather his feet behind the three-point line for a potential tying trey on the left wing, but officials in the moment ruled his foot was on the line. Replay officials in Secaucus, N.J., upheld the call on the floor, with official Tony Brothers telling a pool reporter there was not "clear and conclusive evidence to overturn it."

That left a lot of sour grapes for James. Here's a sampling of his postgame quotes:

"You can clearly see … there's a space in between the front of my foot and the three-point line. So, you know, Stevie Wonder can see that, champ."

Then came: "Over there in the replay center or whatever, somebody over there eating a ham sandwich, or somebody, made the call."

Then one more for good measure: "What do we have replay for if even the replay gets it wrong? It's like, who's the part of the replay center? Like, do we got robots in there that's making the Teslas? What's going on?"

From the Wolves' perspective, the game should have never had such a controversial ending. The Wolves were ahead 107-100 after multiple clutch three-pointers from Anthony Edwards (31 points) and Mike Conley (15 points, seven assists) had given them that cushion along with a key offensive burst from Naz Reid (21 points) off the bench the rest of the night. Their defense laid the foundation for the win as they held every other Laker not named James or Anthony Davis (33 points) under double figures. Former Wolves point guard D'Angelo Russell was 1-for-4 for five points and was a minus-19.

But with the Lakers trailing by seven, James, who entered the game questionable because of an illness, drove and hit a bucket on Jaden McDaniels, who fouled out. McDaniels also received a technical from Brothers, which enabled the Lakers to score four points on the possession and make it a one-score game with 31.1 seconds remaining.

"He's been good for the bulk of the season with his emotional control, but this is an inexcusable one, for sure," coach Chris Finch said of McDaniels.

It was a tough night for the Wolves' emotional maturity, as earler in the night Edwards refused to leave the floor when Finch tried to sub him out late in the first half after Edwards picked up his third foul.

"That was my fault. Never want to do that to Finchy," Edwards said. "Man, he's a great coach. We talked about it. He knows I love him, he loves me. He told me at halftime. We talked about it."

Edwards also kept the door open a bit for James to nearly tie the score again with 1.4 seconds remaining when he made just one of two free throws, giving the Wolves a two-point lead. But Edwards and Rudy Gobert combined for strong defense in the final moments on James, who never got off a shot.

"When I saw him catch the ball, my mind was he was going to shoot a turnaround fadeaway," said Gobert, who had 13 points and 13 rebounds. "I ran there to maybe try to block that. I think he saw me at the last second."

James confirmed that and said he "misread" the play because of Gobert's defense. Gobert also clamped down on Davis, who had a fast start with 17 points in the first quarter. Davis had just 12 after halftime.

Reid buoyed the Wolves on the offensive end early as they again worked through a high number of turnovers (19). He was dazzling off the dribble for 21 points on 8-for-11. That helped compensate for the second consecutive off night for Karl-Anthony Towns, who had just nine points.

"A lot of those guys were trying to force me off the [three-point] line," Reid said. "It kind of played into my favor with no low man [help defense] … and I was able to get to the rim, finish and do what I do."

Edwards had his moments of brilliance offensively that drew "MVP" chants for him late while Conley again knocked down critical shots, including a left corner three to give the Wolves that 107-100 lead with 36 seconds to play.

"I love it, honestly. It's my favorite part of the game, late game," Conley said. "I feel more confident at that moment of the game than any part of the game."

Conley was the one trying desperately to defend James on that fateful shot near the end of the game. After a while he was sick of looking at the replays on the scoreboard.

"I stopped watching. I was tired, man," Conley said. "I sat down. I said it is what it is and we'll see what happens."

That review gifted the Wolves a win, even on James' birthday.