Towns drops 40 in Timberwolves' OT win over Wizards

Karl-Anthony Towns collected 40 points and 16 rebounds before exiting with a right knee injury on Saturday, but the host Minnesota Timberwolves rallied for a 135-130 overtime victory over the Washington Wizards in Minneapolis. Towns, who left in the final minute of regulation and did not play in overtime, reached the 40-point plateau for the third time in five games. The two-time All-Star fell just shy of his season high of 42 points, set in Minnesota's 122-115 setback to Indiana on Feb. 28.

Derrick Rose scored 16 of his 29 points after the third quarter for the Timberwolves, who have won two of three following a 135-121 loss to Washington on Sunday. Bradley Beal, who finished with 36 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, made a curious decision by making an uncontested layup with 3.5 seconds remaining in regulation with the Wizards trailing 119-116. Rose sank a pair of free throws, but Beal calmly sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

Rose drilled a jumper and Taj Gibson followed his miss with a tip-in to give Minnesota a 129-125 lead with 1:08 remaining in overtime. Gibson recorded 15 points and 13 rebounds and Keita Bates-Diop chipped in with a season-high 12 points while making his first NBA start in place of Andrew Wiggins, who sat out with a left quad contusion.

Trevor Ariza had seven 3-pointers and finished with 27 points for the Wizards, who have dropped seven of their last 10 overall and fell to 8-27 on the road. Towns drained a 3-pointer to give the Timberwolves a 110-107 lead with six minutes remaining, the team's first since a 7-5 advantage early in the first quarter.

Beal sank three free throws and a pair of jumpers to tie the contest three more times before Towns answered with a jumper to give Minnesota a 116-114 advantage with two minutes remaining. Bates-Diop scored seven points during the Timberwolves' 15-5 surge to begin the third quarter to trim their deficit to one at 76-75. Jeff Teague forged a tie at 84 with a step-back 3-pointer, but Ariza answered with a 3-pointer of his own and Jeff Green converted a three-point play to give Washington a six-point advantage.

--Field Level Media

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