Towns Has Huge Night, Minnesota Tops Miami 113-104
MIAMI (AP) -- Karl-Anthony Towns scored 34 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, leading six Minnesota players in double figures as the Timberwolves defeated the Miami Heat 113-104 on Sunday night.
Towns added seven assists and six blocked shots for the Timberwolves. The only other player in NBA history to have that many points, rebounds, assists and blocks in the same game was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, for the Los Angeles Lakers against Phoenix on Nov. 14, 1975. Abdul-Jabbar had 35 points, 19 rebounds, nine assists and eight blocks in that game.
Robert Covington scored 16 and Taj Gibson added 14 for Minnesota. The Wolves also got 13 apiece from Andrew Wiggins and Dario Saric, while Tyus Jones scored 12.
Dwyane Wade led Miami with 21 points. Josh Richardson scored 17, Derrick Jones Jr. added 16 and Hassan Whiteside grabbed 13 rebounds for the Heat -- who ended the 2018 calendar year with a 43-43 record.
Miami led only once, and that was for all of 25 seconds. But Minnesota was never exactly running away with this one -- the Wolves' lead was merely 55-54 at halftime, 86-77 after three quarters and was up to 90-79 early in the fourth.
That's when Miami went on its last-gasp attempt to steal one.
A three-point play by Wade, and 3-pointers by Olynyk and Tyler Johnson added up to a 9-0 run that got Miami within 90-88 and put the Heat in position to win down the stretch.
Towns was having none of that.
He ended the Minnesota scoring drought with a short hook, added a three-point play and his 3-pointer with 4:06 left put the Timberwolves up 103-92.
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