At the beginning of Tuesday's game against Charlotte at Target Center, the sellout crowd of 17,136 was standing because they'd been asked to. By the time the Wolves had pulled off a come-from-behind, Karl-Anthony Towns-led 126-120 overtime victory, they were standing, yelling, screaming and clapping because they wanted to.
On a night when shots didn't want to fall, when the Wolves couldn't buy a three-pointer, when they missed 16 of 43 free throws, none of that mattered late.
Down 13 early in the fourth quarter, the Wolves outscored Charlotte 44-25 over the final 14-plus minutes of the game.
"It's a great win,'' Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "Great one. One of the best wins of the year. We hung in there."
Looking for more from the fans, guard D'Angelo Russell had asked for fans to stand until the Wolves scored their first bucket of the game. Fittingly, it was his corner three that got them back in their seats.
They didn't stay there long, with a stirring comeback continually pulling them back to their feet.
Towns led the way. Struggling to hit a shot early, he scored 19 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Wolves (31-27) won their seventh consecutive home game.
"If you want to call yourself a superstar, you have to act like a superstar," Towns said.
The Wolves played the second half without guard Anthony Edwards, who sprained his right ankle in the first. Outrebounded and sometimes outhustled, a 12-point lead in the first quarter was gone by halftime. Charlotte (29-30) was up 58-52 at the half, by nine entering the fourth and by 13 early in the fourth.
And then the Wolves went to work: With Edwards out, Finch settled on a five of Towns, Patrick Beverley (15 points), D'Angelo Russell (18 points, 11 assists), Jarred Vanderbilt (10 points, 14 boards) and Jaden McDaniels (18 points, six rebounds, three assists).
Holding the Hornets to 10-for-28 shooting over the final quarter and overtime, the Wolves fought their way back.
Then, Towns: His three with 1:30 left in regulation put the Wolves up 105-104. Moments later, with 54.9 seconds left, he hit another for a four-point lead. But Charlotte's Miles Bridges followed with a three and then, fouled with nine seconds left, Bridges made one of two free throws to force overtime.
BOXSCORE: Wolves 126, Charlotte 120 (OT)
But the Wolves had the momentum now. Vanderbilt hit a free throw on the first possession. The Wolves got a stop, then McDaniels scored. After a Hornets miss, Beverley scored and the Wolves were up 113-108. They never lost control again. The win broke a four-game losing streak to the Hornets.
"It felt great," said McDaniels, whose brother, Jalen, plays for the Hornets. "It felt like a playoff game, and I haven't played in a playoff game. It was exciting."
Bridges finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds for Charlotte. Terry Rozier had 25. LaMelo Ball had 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists by the time Ball fouled out in the overtime.
But Towns took over when the Wolves needed it most.
"He's an All-Star for a reason," McDaniels said.
Said Russell: "KAT put us on his back."
Russell came to his post-game news conference with a game ball. It wasn't for Towns.
"It was electric,'' he said of the fan-created atmosphere. "I brought you all the game ball. This is for all the fans who came, all the fans in their living room, all the fans on Twitter."
