After same-day flight, shorthanded Wolves show fight but fall 127-120 to Celtics in OT

BOSTON — As the Timberwolves locker room opened after their 127-120 overtime loss to the Celtics, Kyle Anderson was lying on the floor in front of his locker. Recovery time was needed for him and all the Wolves after one of their most eventful 24 hours of the season.

Because of inclement weather on the East Coast, the Wolves landed in Boston about six hours before Wednesday's tipoff against the league-leading Celtics, who are undefeated at home.

Those delayed travel plans after Tuesday's win in Orlando likely contributed to point guard Mike Conley (rest) and Rudy Gobert (hip soreness) missing the game.

Despite the upended itinerary and the absences of two starters, the Wolves refused to use those as excuses, and they played well enough to lead 109-102 with 2 minutes, 46 seconds remaining. But what almost ended up as their most improbable win of the season turned into one of their most excruciating defeats.

Without their floor general in Conley, the Wolves' late-game offense was shoddy, as it also was recently in a 115-108 loss to Dallas on Sunday. Anthony Edwards (29 points) tried to put the team on his shoulders but ended up with more misses (six) and turnovers (three) than field goals (one) in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Eventually, Anderson got up and spoke with the media. He then showered and got dressed while sitting at his locker. When he stood up to head to the team bus, he let out a groan that had a good deal of soreness and exhaustion in its tone.

"All of our guys in here, we don't like losing," Anderson said. "But I think we definitely got better [Wednesday]. We've seen we got to have discipline to beat the disciplined teams. Big-time playmaking on both ends isn't just going to win the game for us, especially against good teams like this. So, I think we're all going to learn from it."

That summed up the emotions inside the Wolves locker room. There was disappointment in the result but pride in how they competed despite their circumstances. There were gutsy efforts from the likes of Anderson (17 points), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (15 points) and Naz Reid (19 points, 10 rebounds). Karl-Anthony Towns added 25 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

There was accountability from those who spoke postgame. Anderson, who started for Gobert, copped to a double team on Jayson Tatum, who killed the Wolves in the fourth quarter and overtime for 45 points, that led to a Celtics three. Reid said he had to be better when he fouled Tatum on the perimeter with the Wolves up 120-118 in overtime. That led to a 9-0 Boston run to close the game.

"No matter what's given to us, we're going to fight," Reid said. "I think the next level for us is just learning time and situation. Learning what to do in that time or situation.

And Alexander-Walker owned up to a key offensive foul that sparked Tatum's late-game heroics with the Wolves up five with under two minutes left in the fourth.

"There were just a few mistakes that we made down the stretch that were very costly in certain stretches of the game," Alexander-Walker said. "If we could've had those possessions back, it would've looked like a different game."

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• BOXSCORE: Boston 127, Wolves 120 (OT)

When the Wolves made mistakes, the Celtics, in particular Tatum, pounced. A key moment came in the fourth with the Wolves up 109-108 with 36.1 seconds remaining when Tatum missed a free throw — the only miss for Boston from the line in 31 attempts. Derrick White pounced on the rebound and found Jrue Holiday for a three and a two-point Boston lead. The Wolves would tie the score on free throws from Edwards to send it to overtime, but those were among the only points Edwards scored in crunch time. Coach Chris Finch lamented the lack of ball movement in those moments.

"Just too much iso, too much iso against a really good defense," Finch said.

Edwards, saying he didn't want to incur a fine for criticizing the officiating, declined to speak with the media after the game. He also had plenty of disappointment in letting Wednesday's game get away, even if there was some good, as his teammates said.

"That's kind of one of those wins we wanted to prove we can win in any type of situation," Reid said. "… I just think with this team, we got a lot of fight. We're not just going to give up and roll over that easy. So I'm proud of that."