Wednesday's question to come out of Target Center: Is it better to have come back and lost or never to have come back at all?
After a desultory three-plus quarters, the Wolves provided a near-dizzying finish. After 42 minutes of poor transition defense, a lack of finish at the rim, missed free throws and a sputtering offense, the Wolves found themselves down by 14 to the Charlotte Bobcats.
What followed was a comeback that came up just short.
Derrick Williams made one of two free throws with 12.3 seconds left to tie the score. But Charlotte's Kemba Walker hit a 19-foot jumper with 0.7 seconds left that gave the Bobcats an 89-87 victory and their first three-game winning streak since the spring of 2011.
So, again, the question. Does getting close only make it harder?
"Tough loss," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said. "We needed to play the start of the game the way we played the fourth quarter."
"That one stings," said guard Luke Ridnour, who had 16 points and 10 assists.
"You feel like you got it, but in the end it slips through your fingers," said forward Andrei Kirilenko, who had a game-high 26 points with 12 rebounds and two blocks. "It is very hard to play that kind of game."