Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Anthony Edwards scored 43 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves out-gunned the Los Angeles Lakers down the stretch to win a pulsating NBA playoff clash 116-113 and take a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference first-round series. Luka Doncic scored 38 points and LeBron James added 27 for the Lakers, who took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter but couldn’t hang on.
Jaden McDaniels drove for a basket and drew a foul with 39.5 seconds to play, converting the free throw to put Minnesota up 114-113 with 39.5 seconds left. McDaniels then stole an inbounds pass from James, and Edwards drew a foul on the Lakers superstar and made two free throws that sealed it as Austin Reaves missed a final three-point attempt. The Lakers will try to stay alive in the best-of-seven series when they host game five on Wednesday. Only 13 NBA teams have rallied from 3-1 down to win a playoff series.
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The New York Knicks will have a chance to close out their Eastern Conference series against the Pistons on Tuesday after a 94-93 victory in Detroit gave them a 3-1 advantage. Jalen Brunson scored 32 points and Karl-Anthony Towns delivered two crucial late baskets in the game that ended amid controversy, with the Pistons protesting that Tim Hardaway Jr. was fouled by Josh Hart on a last-gasp three-point attempt to win it. Game officials later conceded a foul should have been called.
In Minneapolis, it was a frantic finish to a physical game. Edwards fell hard when he was clipped by James as the Lakers superstar dived for a loose ball, and Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert was assessed a flagrant foul for a forearm shove to the back of James’s neck after James bumped him with a hip. Doncic, slowed by a stomach bug in game three, and James played 46 of the game’s 48 minutes — including all of the second half. Trailing by three after a back-and-forth first half, the Lakers opened the third quarter on a 14-0 scoring run and led by as many as 12, taking a 94-84 lead into the final frame. But Edwards scored 16 points in the fourth and Naz Reid contributed a pair of big three-pointers as the Timberwolves put themselves on the brink of the second round.
It came down to the wire in Detroit, where Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff was fuming along with Pistons fans but had no challenge remaining when Hart bumped Hardaway on the final attempt of the game. “There’s contact on Tim Hardaway’s jump shot,” Bickerstaff said. “I repeat, there’s contact on his jump shot.” David Guthrie, the officiating crew chief, acknowledged after the game that Bickerstaff was correct, saying that a postgame review showed “Hart makes body contact that is more than marginal to Hardaway Jr. and a foul should have been called.” It was a heartbreaking outcome for the Pistons.
Fueled by a 25-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double from Cade Cunningham, they erased an early 16-point deficit and led by 11 early in the fourth quarter. Brunson, who departed briefly after tweaking his right ankle late in the third quarter, returned to score 15 points in the final period as the Knicks clawed back. Towns, who finished with 27 points, pulled them within two points with a fiercely contested basket then drilled a three-pointer that put New York up 94-93 with 47 seconds left. The Pistons had two chances to win it, with Cunningham missing before Hardaway came up empty. “We stuck together, we found a way to win,” said Brunson, who added five rebounds and 11 assists.
In other games, the defending champion Boston Celtics took a 2-1 series lead into their game against the Magic in Orlando, and the Milwaukee Bucks hosted Indiana vying to pull level in a series led 2-1 by the Pacers.
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