Turnovers come back to burden the Wolves in a nail-biting loss to the Heat

Anthony Edwards had a bad night shooting. The Timberwolves appeared unfocused offensively at times and turned the ball over too often. They got a lot of good shots, but most of them just didn’t fall for most of the night.

Ultimately, a season-best 20 turnovers proved costly for the Wolves, as Nikola Jovic made a layup after an inbound pass and drew a foul on Nickeil Alexander-Walker, with the ensuing free throw bringing the Miami Heat within one point with 7.8 seconds remaining . Mike Conley missed an attempt at a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.

The result was a 95-94 loss for the Timberwolves on Sunday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Terry Rozier made two free throws after being fouled in transition by Jaden McDaniels, tying the game at 92-92 with 30 seconds left. On the other side, Mike Conley missed a 3-pointer, but McDaniels grabbed the offensive board and tipped it over with nine seconds left. The Wolves (6:4) led 94:92, but Jovic’s basket fell immediately afterwards.

It was a bit of a strange game for the Wolves. They came out of the gates and moved the ball with purpose, creating one great performance after another. Many of them rattled against the back of the rim. In the second quarter, the script flipped and the offense suddenly began to falter. Sales were an issue. It was just clunky and the Heat (4-5) led by as many as 12 players in the frame.

The Timberwolves committed 20 turnovers in this game, a season-high. The Heat had 23 of their own.

The fantastic ball movement early in the game returned late in the second quarter and the Wolves ended the half on a 19-10 run, leaving the deficit down to 52-51 at halftime. They won the third quarter and led 71-68 heading into the fourth quarter.

It was a tough shooting night for Edwards and the Timberwolves as a whole. Edwards scored a team-high 22 points on 8-for-24 shooting, including 4 for 14 from 3-point range, but he also contributed six assists and five rebounds. Randle finished the game with 17 points, six assists and six rebounds. Naz Reid had 15 points and three rebounds off the bench.

Tyler Herro led the Heat with a game-high 26 points.

As a team, the Wolves shot 40.2% from the field and just 29.5% from 3-point range.