Los Angeles (AFP) – The Minnesota Timberwolves poured it on in the fourth quarter, surging to a 118-103 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday to maintain their NBA Western Conference lead over Oklahoma City, who beat the Utah Jazz 134-129.
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards shook off a slow start, scoring 26 of his 28 points in the second half.That included 12 in the fourth quarter, when the Timberwolves out-scored the Grizzlies 37-17.
“I just came out slow,” Edwards told broadcaster TNT.”
I just wasn’t ready to play tonight and I saw that if I didn’t bring it to the second half we weren’t going to be able to win that game.
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“So I decided to just pick it up,” he said.”
I wasn’t ready to play early, so I had to find it.”
Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert added 17 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots and Naz Reid added 20 points off the bench to help Minnesota claw out the victory over the injury depleted Grizzlies, who are without star Ja Morant for the rest of the season and juggling a raft of other injuries as well.
Jaren Jackson Jr.scored 36 points and Luke Kennard drilled five three-pointers on the way to 18 points for the Grizzlies, who had led most of the night.
The Timberwolves improved to 30-11, two games ahead of the Thunder, who silenced the Jazz behind 31 points, six rebounds and six assists from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Oklahoma City led throughout but the Jazz, who came in on a six-game winning streak, pushed them to the finish.
Jalen Williams scored 11 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and all five Thunder starters scored in double figures as Oklahoma City snapped a two-game skid.
The Jazz had trimmed the deficit to four points with less than a minute remaining, but Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren blocked a layup attempt by Walker Kessler and after the Jazz failed on two attempts Holmgren sealed the victory with a free throw.
Collin Sexton scored 31 points and Lauri Markkanen added 26 for the Jazz, who trailed by as many as 19 in the first quarter but pulled level late in the third.
Elsewhere, the Indiana Pacers beat the Kings 126-121 in Sacramento, despite the continuing absence of injured playmaker Tyrese Haliburton.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 25 points to lead seven Pacers players in double figures.
Indiana withstood Domantas Sabonis’s triple-double of 21 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists
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– Brunson scores 41 – In New York, Jalen Brunson scored 20 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter to propel the Knicks to a narrow 113-109 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Brunson, who scored 30 points in his return from a two-game injury absence on Wednesday, added eight rebounds and eight assists.
Julius Randle had 21 points for New York and Donte DiVincenzo and OG Anunoby scored 19 apiece to help the Knicks overcome 17 turnovers.
The Chicago Bulls, with 24 points from both Nikola Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan, dominated early and held on late to beat the Raptors 116-110 in Toronto.
Vucevic added 14 rebounds and handed out seven assists, and Coby White chipped in 23 points for the Bulls, who out-scored the Raptors 74-50 in the paint.
Scottie Barnes led Toronto with 31 points, his finger roll layup with 2:21 remaining putting the Raptors up 109-108 only for White to answer with a jump shot that put the Bulls up for good.
“We knew they’re a team that never gives up, it’s not going to be a pretty game with them,” Vucevic said.
“They play very physical and they play a lot of different ways defensively as well.So we just knew we had to stick with it.”
