Karl-Anthony Towns delivers more heartbreak to Grizzlies with buzzer-beating prayer
On Monday, the Memphis Grizzlies lost in devastating fashion, blowing a 25-point lead at home to the Denver Nuggets while watching multiple late chances to take the lead at the end fall painfully short.
Wednesday on the road wasn’t much better, as the Minnesota Timberwolves won on a late prayer thrown up by Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns puts Grizzlies away in front of their bench
The game was tied at 97 with five seconds remaining when Andrew Wiggins pulled up for a 20-foot jump shot that caromed off the back of the rim, seemingly destined to send the game to double-overtime.
But Towns used his 7-foot frame to grab the rebound over two Grizzlies on the baseline. He took one dribble with his back to the basket, turned around and threw up a high-arcing shot as he fell out bounds toward the Grizzlies bench and watched it drop through the hoop as the buzzer sounded.
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Ball game. Timberwolves win. Grizzlies heartbreak.
Towns finds his shot when it counts
Towns struggled with his jumper for most of the night, hitting 7-of-17 field goals while missing all six of his 3-point attempts. But he found his stroke when it mattered most, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
It was a balanced effort from the Timberwolves, who saw six players score in double-figures with nobody eclipsing 20 points.
Marc Gasol (19 points, seven rebounds) and Mike Conley (26 points, eight assists, five rebounds) led the Grizzlies as usual. But as their time is reportedly winding down after 12 years together with the Grizzlies, it’s doing so in painful fashion.
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