Anthony Edwards scored 44 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves overturned a 15-point third-quarter deficit to defeat the host New Orleans Pelicans 149-142 in overtime on Tuesday.
Edwards hit 6 of 13 from 3-point range while playing 47:27. His only rest came in the second quarter.
Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert paired 26 points with 13 rebounds, Naz Reid finished with 18 points, Jaden McDaniels added 17 and Julius Randle 16.
Trey Murphy III posted 33 points and 15 boards for New Orleans in his return from an elbow injury.
Saddiq Bey contributed 22 points, while rookies Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears both had 21.
The Pelicans were up 129-125 and in possession late in regulation, when Donte DiVincenzo stole the ball from Jose Alvarado for a McDaniels bucket.
Then, after Fears missed a runner with 13.6 seconds, Edwards squared it at the other end, laying it up with 2.3 ticks remaining, before Queen missed the go-ahead runner over Gobert on the bell.
New Orleans became plagued by turnovers down the stretch, and couldn’t contain Randle, Gobert and Edwards in the extension.
Gobert set the early tone for Minnesota with 10 points and six boards in the opening frame, at the end of which the Timberwolves led 31-25.
Reid followed Gobert’s example with 13 second-quarter points in nine minutes off the bench, but Minnesota was otherwise stifled by the Pelicans’ defense, which successfully kept the ball out of Edwards’ hands during that stretch.
New Orleans shot 15 of 23 for the period. The Pelicans turned a 55-all ballgame into a 68-55 lead before Gobert’s three-point play sliced it to 68-58 after three.
Edwards went to the floor in pain after his right knee collided into Micah Peavy’s knee with 4:05 left in the third, but the Timberwolves star shrugged off the injury scare to dominate the quarter.
He had 19 points for the period on 6-of-9 shooting and 3-of-3 from long range to rally the Wolves, whose successful zone defense dragged New Orleans’ buffer back to 103-100 with a quarter to play.
The lead swapped hands regularly in the fourth before Minnesota surged during the extra period.
–Field Level Media
