Timberwolves collapse in 4th quarter, lose in overtime despite amazing shot by Karl-Anthony Towns

MEMPHIS — So what do you tell them now?

The question was asked of Wolves coach Chris Finch, after his team lost a fifth consecutive game Monday night, this time to the Grizzlies. This after the Wolves, up by 16 early in the fourth, still led by 14 with 5 minutes, 23 seconds left when center Karl-Anthony Towns scored on a pretty five-foot hook.

A lead that went away in a 125-118 overtime loss.

"We played better longer [Monday],'' said Finch, searching hard for a silver lining. "We still think we're a good team, with good basketball in us, good basketball in our future."

But the present is really, really difficult.

During this losing streak the Wolves have made a habit of building and losing leads. This time, though, it happened so late, so quickly. That Towns hit an improbable, banked-in 39-footer at the buzzer to force overtime only delayed the inexcusable.

"It hurts," said Towns, who 25 points and 13 rebounds. "It just hurts all around, honestly. I don't even know how to explain it. We show our intensity, we show who we can be. Playing hard, rugged defense. We showed it for three quarters … In the fourth it just didn't work out. Didn't play the way we needed to play to win, didn't do enough.''

After missing two games because of an ankle injury, point guard D'Angelo Russell returned and led the Wolves with 30 points. Thirteen of those came down the stretch of the third quarter, after Grizzlies forward Ja Morant had scored with 7:59 left in the third to put Memphis up 71-62. The Wolves finished the third on a 30-10 run — scoring the final 13 points — to take an 11-point lead into the fourth. Early in the fourth that lead grew to 16, and was still at 14 when it all started turning the other way.

BOXSCORE: Memphis 125, Timberwolves 118

Russell, who said he felt good physically, said the team was still figuring things out. "We're not perfect," he said. "We have a lot of work to do."

Anthony Edwards scored 27, hitting threes and driving to the bucket. But as has happened so often of late, the ball stopped moving, the turnovers started coming and the Wolves struggled in their transition defense as that late lead bled away.

Over the final 5:23, the Wolves went 1-for-10 from the field with five turnovers turned into 12 points by the Grizzlies.

Morant led the charge. He scored a game-high 33 points, with 14 coming in the final 10-plus minutes.

He hit a three to make it an 11-point game, had a layup with 2:55 left to make it seven. He fed Kyle Anderson for a three to make it two with 1:31 left. His driving dunk tied the score, then he hit a pull-up 28-footer to put Memphis up 111-108 with 32.3 seconds left.

The closing seconds were so strange. Russell hit two free throws with 24 seconds left, then Minnesota forced an eight-second violation on Memphis. A drive by Russell was blocked by Jaran Jackson Jr., initially called a goaltend, then was overturned. The Wolves won the ensuing tipoff, which went out of bounds, but couldn't get the ball inbounded. After two free throws by Morant with 2.5 seconds left, Towns hit his long three.

But the Wolves appeared spent. They never led in the OT.

The problems were familiar. The Wolves struggled when forced into the half court. They appeared to be playing not to lose. The ball slowed.

To Towns, the pain was evident. He pushed a printout of the final boxscore off the table in disgust as he talked with reporters.

Russell, though, felt differently.

"I don't agree at all," he said. "I think we had it, we lost it, and we can learn from it. A lot of games we lost this season, we never had it. This one we had it, we found a way to lose it. I think we can learn from that."