Timberwolves win in overtime, hold off Nuggets after blowing big lead at end of 4th quarter

The Timberwolves are likely to lose this playoff series to the Nuggets, considering no team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit.

But there will be a luminous silver lining that emerges around the darkening clouds that have hovered over this stormy Wolves season.

Anthony Edwards has shown in his young career he isn't afraid of and can produce in the big moments, and at 21 years old, he is capable of carrying a flawed team on his back to a playoff victory over the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Edwards saved the Wolves' season with a sterling third quarter and iced the game after his team gave up two significant leads at the end of regulation and overtime in a 114-108 victory on Sunday night at Target Center.

Edwards had 34 points, his third consecutive game of 30 or more points. He had 16 in a third quarter that lifted the Wolves out of a nine-point hole and into the lead going into the fourth. After Game 3, he was telling teammates the series wasn't over. He proved prophetic, at least for a night.

"That's just the truth. It's 3-0. You got to win one more game to send us home," Edwards said. "I was just telling the truth. … I take pride. I didn't want to say I got swept. I don't ever want to say I got swept in my career. So, I definitely took it personally tonight."

Game 5 is at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Denver.

Edwards wasn't perfect, by his own admission. He felt like he contributed too much to the Wolves blowing all of a 12-point lead with 2 minutes, 52 seconds to play in regulation when he took some ill-advised shots. That caused him to say he actually played "terrible."

"We go up 12, I take like three bad threes, three terrible possessions," Edwards said. "I damn near shot us out the game."

Such is the life of a 21-year-old on a playoff stage. Edwards said next time he's in that situation, he will be trying to get to the basket or looking for open midrange shots.

But the Wolves aren't even in that position to blow a lead Sunday if not for the rest of the game Edwards had.

Then after Denver cut a 109-102 Wolves lead to one with 31.2 seconds left in overtime, Edwards shimmied away Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon for a clinching three-pointer with 11.5 seconds left. He was fine with that shot selection.

"I wasn't passing the ball," Edwards said. "I was taking the shot. I was going to live with whether I lost us the game or we won. I end up hitting the shot."

Most anyone who observes the Wolves and their emotionally taxing season figured they would roll over for the Nuggets on Sunday night. But Edwards is their emotional heartbeat.

"I know my team," he said. "I know they're counting on me to pick us up."

Edwards didn't let a crowd that was ambivalent most of the night to sit on its hands, and he willed teammates to put off their vacation travel plans for a few more days.

"I thought we played with a sense of urgency that we haven't had all season," guard Mike Conley said.

Conley mentioned how he wanted to change the energy around the team of late, so he did what his teammates, especially Edwards, love to do — play the video game "Call of Duty" online.

"Trying to switch up the mojo," Conley said. "If we're doing that, let's do it, let's have fun."

Edwards also said he hung out with teammate Karl-Anthony Towns on Saturday night, and he was proud of Towns for guarding Denver center Nikola Jokic, even though the two-time NBA MVP had 43 points. Towns, they felt, limited Jokic from being more damaging as a playmaker setting up teammates for open shots. Outside of Jokic, Denver shot 39%. Towns finished 17 points and fouled out in overtime.

"Damn, Ant told y'all a lot," Towns said with a laugh. "We have a great relationship and a great friendship. … To spend time with each other in the midst of all this, you get so caught up in work that you don't get to enjoy each other's company. … I think it translated to today."

Edwards had help in switching the energy, and he heaped praise on guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who chased Denver's Jamal Murray around all night and forced Murray to go 8-for-21 (19 points).

"He was the MVP tonight," Edwards said.

Alexander-Walker also hit two huge threes from the left corner that built the Wolves' lead in overtime in addition to his dogged defense.

"After that Game 2, I kind of took it personal and tried to do my best," Alexander-Walker said of Murray, who had 40 points in Game 2. "Make it tough for him. He's going to make tough shots, but knowing that I'm there the next possession, just trying to disrupt his rhythm, be as physical as I can."

Then in the final moments, it was Edwards' turn again. He had the ball isolated on the right wing with Gordon guarding him. He took a hard step right, and Gordon looked like he was skating on the ice at Xcel Energy Center instead of the Target Center hardwood.

Edwards had dribbled himself open and took his time to put up the shot. Even with all his misses at the end of regulation, this shot was one of his truest of the night.

For one night at least, Edwards wouldn't let them lose.

"I can't get swept," Edwards said. "It can't be a great story if I say I got swept."