Sports

/

ArcaMax

Timberwolves stage incredible overtime rally to beat Rockets 110-108

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on

Published in Basketball

The Timberwolves are a volatile team, but never in a season filled with ups and downs have they had as many highs and lows as they had in Wednesday’s 110-108 victory over Houston.

They were winning by nine late in the fourth at Target Center, then lost the lead and Jaden McDaniels to injury.

Rudy Gobert fouled out in regulation and Naz Reid got ejected in overtime as Houston opened a 13-point lead before the Wolves came storming back with a 15-point run.

Then Houston’s Kevin Durant got fouled with 3.3 seconds left, only to miss the front end after going 10-for-10 from the line before that.

The Wolves couldn’t secure the rebound as Durant missed the second before Terrence Shannon Jr., who hadn’t played all night, broke up the inbound pass to secure the craziest victory of the season.

The overtime rally was the largest in recent NBA history; play-by-play data is only available after the 2002 season.

It was the largest OT comeback since at least 1996.

How it happened

In an emotional game, the Wolves blew a nine-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

Reid got ejected arguing a call with referee Scott Foster. Foster also ejected Anthony Edwards in the Wolves’ overtime loss to Denver on Christmas Day.

Reid was upset after the Wolves unsuccessfully challenged his offensive foul on Aleperen Sengun, who appeared to be moving and not set during the play in overtime.

McDaniels exited the game late in the fourth and did not play in the overtime. The Wolves were already without All-Star guard Anthony Edwards.

The Wolves’ overtime rally was capped when Donte DiVincenzo buried a three-pointer with 1:34 remaining, getting them within two.

After another Wolves stop, Julius Randle buried a midrange jumper with 8.8 seconds to play.

Sengun had a game-high 30 points, while McDaniels led the Wolves with 25.

What it means

The Wolves are now 1½ games ahead of the Rockets for the fifth playoff spot.

The teams will meet again April 10 in Houston with more juggling in the standings likely before then.

 

The road to OT

The teams played a grinding first quarter with the Wolves leading 23-19 after one. It was a defense-first quarter, with the Rockets blocking five Wolves shots while the Wolves held the Rockets to just 5-for-18 from the floor (the Wolves also had five blocks) Durant was 1-for-7. The Wolves had seven offensive rebounds but turned those into just six second-chance points.

The second quarter was much like the first, with the Wolves carrying a 44-43 lead into the half. Neither team shot above 38% for the half, and the Rockets never led in the first two quarters while the largest Wolves lead was eight.

The Wolves built an 88-80 in the fourth and continued to clamp down defensively until late in the quarter. They had a 93-84 lead when Randle was called for a flagrant foul on Sengun, who hit the free throws and dunked on Gobert for a four-point possession. Officials ruled Randle had launched himself into Sengun, who was setting a screen.

The Rockets had a 13-2 run in the final minutes of regulation.

Following a bucket by Durant, the Wolves led 93-90 with less than two minutes to play in regulation.

After a Wolves turnover on an inbound pass, they led by just one following another Durant bucket. With McDaniels hurt, Durant made a jumper over Randle with 53.1 seconds left to set up the finish.

Durant hit a jumper to give Houston a 94-93 lead. Randle scored a tough driving bucket over Jabari Smith Jr. to put the Wolves back up one.

Durant then got Gobert isolated on the perimeter, with Gobert blocking his shot, but Houston retained possession with nine seconds to play. Following a Rockets timeout, Gobert fouled Alperen Sengun on the inbound pass, with officials calling it an away-from-the-play foul and awarding Houston one shot, which Durant hit. That also fouled out Gobert.

After the inbound, Reid got a steal, foiling Houston’s last-shot attempt and giving the Wolves a chance, but Randle missed at the buzzer as the crowd and the Wolves wanted a foul on either Durant or Sengun.

Dosunmu misses the game

Wolves guard Ayo Dosunmu did not play because of right calf soreness. Even though Dosunmu practice on Tuesday and was at shootaround Wednesday, he still missed the game after popping up on the injury report Tuesday night.

When asked how serious the injury was, coach Chris Finch said, “I don’t sense it’s overly serious.”

Conley starts

A day after Finch said it felt like a “crime against humanity” that he was the coach who had to bench Mike Conley, Finch put him in the starting lineup for Dosunmu. Conley had played just 25 combined minutes entering the Rockets game since re-signing with the team after it dealt him at the deadline in early February.

In his first shift, Conley hit a right-handed floater, grabbed two rebounds and had three assists and was a plus-six.


©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus