Thunder rally past Timberwolves for 3rd straight win
Paul George and Russell Westbrook each scored 27 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 132-126 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis on Sunday.
The Thunder had to come from behind, scoring 37 fourth-quarter points, to win their third consecutive game.
Oklahoma City's first three-game winning streak since winning four in a row from Feb. 5-11 has kept the Thunder in contention for the sixth spot in the Western Conference.
Westbrook also finished with 10 rebounds and 15 assists for his 136th career triple-double. Westbrook is just two behind Magic Johnson for second all-time in the category.
But when Westbrook and the Thunder were struggling going into the fourth quarter, backup point guard Dennis Schroder helped lift Oklahoma City out of its funk. Schroder scored 12 points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter and poured in 14 of his 21 points in the period.
The Timberwolves were going for their first-ever season sweep over the Thunder franchise, having won the first three meetings.
Like those earlier games, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns gave Oklahoma City fits for long stretches Sunday.
Towns finished with 35 points, hitting 13 of 14 from the free-throw line. Wiggins had 24 points, although just two came in the fourth quarter.
Dario Saric had a season-high 23 points, but like Wiggins, wasn't much of a factor in the fourth quarter, when he scored just two points.
Oklahoma City (47-33) got off to a hot start, leading 22-8 less than halfway through the first quarter. The Thunder hit nine of their first 11 shots, including 4 of 5 from behind the 3-point line.
But the Thunder hit just 15 of 41 shots over the final 18 minutes of the first half as the Timberwolves clawed their way back into the game, briefly taking the lead midway through the second quarter.
Minnesota led by as many as 10 points in the third quarter before Oklahoma City started pulling closer.
--Field Level Media
