Buzzerbeater!

In a wild final stage, the Minnesota Timberwolves won the Oklahoma City Thunder thanks to Andrew Wiggins’ buzzer theatre. The New Orleans Pelicans almost played a comfortable lead at the Los Angeles Lakers, but managed to save their way across the finish line.

What was the wild ending phase? After three quarters, Minnesota was already ahead with 13 points, but then the current MVP turned up. Russell Westbrook scored 15 of his 31 points in the last 12 minutes and turned the game upside down. 30 seconds to the end, Russ had equalized the match with a three-way (5/8 over the game). Karl-Anthony Towns (27 points, 11/17 FG, 12 rebounds) countered on the other side with a difficult runner.

But then came the big moment of Carmelo Anthony (23 points, 9/19 FG), who welded the supposed game winner from downtown to 113:112 after a break. With 5 seconds left, Minnesota had no more downtime. Andrew Wiggins had to hurry up, was unblocked by the towns and actually pocketed Brett’s pullup threesome from almost ten meters. Ball Game.

“I felt good. Everything worked perfectly”, Wiggins reported,”Taj played me and KAT provided a great screen. He called Game”, Towns laughed and alluded to Paul Pierce, who replied after a playoff when asked if he had announced the bank shot before.

All in all, it was a convincing presentation of the Wolves. All starters scored double-digit points, including the most recent critic Jeff Teague, who contributed 19 points and 9 assists. Jimmy Butler scored 15 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. But the man of the evening was the Wiggins, who scored 27 points (10/20 FG) and 7 rebounds.

The Thunders were also not dissatisfied, even though they complained that the block of towns was not legal:”It was an illegal screen for me,”regretted coach Billy Donovan, who looked to the future,”It’s more important for us to focus on what we need to do better,” the Big Three had mixed ideas. Westbrook scored 31 points and 10 assists, whereas Paul George had big problems from downtown (1/8 threesomes). He finished the game with 14 points (6/20 FG), 6 rebounds and 8 assists. Also gratifying: Jerami Grant and Raymond Felton (12 each) produced a good amount of money from the bank.

It looked like a clear affair at the Staples Center. In the second quarter, the visitors from Louisiana were already leading with 22 points. The Lakers had no answer to the Twin Towers around Anthony Davis (27 points, 17 rebounds, 3 blocks) and DeMarcus Cousins (22 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists). After 24 minutes, the pelicans had scuttled 65 percent of their throws.

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But there was a little hope. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (20) brought the hosts back a little bit at seven points at a time. And indeed, the game overturned. In the fourth quarter, the Lakers took the lead for the first time after a 27:4 run. New Orleans stayed cool and could now rely on the role-players. The newly committed Jameer Nelson (5) and E’ Twaun Moore (19 points, 8/9 FG) scored important throws and restored the old balance of power.

Lonzo Ball had problems with his shooting (3/13 FG, 0/5 threesome) and got 8 points, 8 rebounds and 13 assists. Only Norm Nixon was the only player to have more direct submissions (14) as a Lakers rookie in one game. Magic Johnson doubled to 13. Coach Luke Walton was satisfied with his team and explicitly praised the run initiated by the starters:”We played for each other, helped each other and played the mismatches well”.

Top scorer of the Lakers was Sixth Man Jordan Clarkson with 24 points (10/18 FG), Rookie Kyle Kuzma made his best game in the regular season and scored 20 points as well as 6 rebounds.