Timberwolves surge past Heat in second half behind Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns

For the first 46 minutes and 49 seconds of the Timberwolves' game with Miami at Target Center Monday, Wolves center Rudy Gobert did not attempt a shot, did not take a field goal.

Best for last.

In a strange game against a Miami team hamstrung by injuries, the Wolves needed what Gobert did in the final 71 seconds: Make four straight free throws in Minnesota's come-from-behind 105-101 victory.

Both sets of free throws came with Minnesota nursing a narrow two-point lead.

Good, good, good, good.

"At that point it's all about the moment,'' Gobert said. "Everything that happened before isn't really important. It's about what's ahead. I gotta knock those down.''

Call it the finishing touches on a strange game that saw the Wolves (9-8) stumble in a first half that saw them trail by as many as 15. With Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and – wait for it – Jordan McLaughlin leading the way, the Wolves built a nine-point third quarter lead and still led by five entering the fourth.

That the Wolves had to come back one more time in the final 12?

So what?

Miami (7-11) came to town to play for the second time in two nights with a lineup that did NOT include Jimmy butler, Tyler Herro or Gabe Vincent, among others.

And yet, with six players scoring in double figures — led by 36-year-old Kyle Lowry's 21 — the Heat gave the Wolves a tense run.

But the bottom line is a fourth straight Wolves victory, the first time they've won when training at the half this season.

"We'll take wins right now, man,'' Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "When we're trying to figure things out, we'll take all the wins we can get. No time to be picky.''

Indeed. In a tale of two halves, Finch said he was unhappy with his team's effort in the first half, pleased in the second. "We didn't play very hard,'' Finch said when asked what he said at halftime. "We have to play harder. We didn't have a lot of juice in the first half. Not sure why.''

Things changed in the third, a wild quarter that saw Edwards score 10 of his 22 points, including a step-back three after a soaring block of Max Strus' attempted dunk. McDaniels scored 10 of his 18 in the third as well. McLaughlin had nine of 12 points on three third-quarter threes. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 25.

The Wolves trailed 67-53 with just over 9 minutes left in the third quarter when the light went on with a 21-4 run that put them up 74-71 wit 3:57 left in the quarter. After making just four of their first 26 three-pointers, the Wolves hit five straight during the run.

And it just got crazier. After Lowry hit one of two free throws to pull the Heat within two, McLaughlin hit three straight three-pointers as the Minnesota lead grew to 80-72. That lead got pushed to nine on Jaylen Nowell's three-point play with 1:11 left, but the Heat drew within 84-79 by quarter's end.

That lead was gone minutes into the fourth, and the back-and-forth began.

D'Angelo Russell broke a tie with a baseline jumper with 2:28 left. Moments later, with 1:11 left, Gobert hit the first two of four straight from the line to ice the game.

The Heat shot 47 percent and hit eight of 21 threes in the first half. In the second they were at 35.7 percent overall and made three of 17 threes. The Wolves? They shot 39 percent in the first half and 48.7 in the second.

"For sure the game was gritty, man,'' Edwards said. "Tough game, ugly game. I had a super ugly game. None of my shots would fall. {then] a couple of them fell. But it was a great win and a great team win.''