Field Level Media
Dec 30, 2019
Shabazz Napier scored eight of his season-high 24 points in overtime as the Minnesota Timberwolves snapped a nine-game home losing streak with a 122-115 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night in Minneapolis.
After the Wolves rallied down the stretch of regulation, Napier hit three clutch shots in the extra session. His layup with four minutes left put Minnesota up 107-105 and his fadeaway with 1:39 left pushed Minnesota's lead to 115-109.
Spencer Dinwiddie's dunk got the Nets within 117-113 with a minute remaining but Napier secured Minnesota's first home win since Nov. 13 by hitting a 3-pointer with 42.4 seconds left and a free throw with 22.8 seconds left to push the lead to 121-113.
Napier shot 8 of 18, hit three 3-pointers and handed out eight assists as Minnesota beat the Nets for the second time in overtime this season. Minnesota also won for only the second time in its last 14 games overall with both wins coming in overtime.
Rookie Jarrett Culver added a career-high 21 points for the Wolves, who made 7 of 10 shots in overtime and shot 40.4 percent overall. Keita Bates-Diop added 15, Robert Covington contributed 14 while Gorgui Dieng collected 11 points and 20 rebounds while starting in place of Karl-Anthony Towns (sprained left knee) for the seventh straight game.
Dinwiddie led all scorers with 36 points on 12-of-31 shooting as the Nets blew a five-point lead in the final two-plus minutes of regulation and lost their third straight game. Joe Harris added 19 points for Brooklyn, which shot 40.4 percent and fell to 12-9 without Kyrie Irving (right shoulder impingement).
The Nets held a 101-96 lead on a free throw by Dinwiddie with 2:06 remaining but Minnesota scored the next seven points and took a 103-101 lead on Dieng's corner 3-pointer with 36.9 seconds remaining. The Nets forged a 103-103 deadlock on Taurean Prince's 13-footer with 29 seconds left and Napier missed a 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left.
The Nets held an 80-74 lead entering the fourth and took an 89-80 lead on a 3-pointer by Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot with 9:18 remaining.
--Field Level Media