With the clock running down in a tie game against the Thunder on March 11, Andrew Wiggins drove down the right side of the lane. Drawing defenders, he rifled the ball out to Ricky Rubio behind the three-point line. Rubio, wide open, hit, giving the Wolves their first win in Oklahoma City since 2008.

Three days later in Phoenix, the Wolves down two very late, Wiggins almost effortlessly got to the rim and scored, despite an apparent foul by Alex Len, to tie the score with 4 seconds left, only to have Mirza Teletovic's parabolic three-pointer spoil a happy ending.

And, then, Monday: With the Wolves down two at home to Golden State, Wiggins took an 18-foot turnaround with 15 seconds left that came up short.

These are the three most recent examples that Wiggins, the team's go-to fourth-quarter guy much of the season, now has even more on his plate. Interim coach Sam Mitchell has made a point of putting the ball in Wiggins' hands in late-game, crunch-time situations and asking him to make a play.

"I accepted it," Wiggins said of the role, which doesn't necessarily mean that he is asked simply to take an important final shot. Mitchell and his staff want Wiggins to use his ability to get to the rim to force defenses to make a decision. Then it's up to Wiggins to do the right thing.

"It's a role I want," he continued. "The coach and everybody trusts me to make plays down the stretch. I enjoy it."

It doesn't always work out. Monday Wiggins probably didn't need to take such a low-percentage, contested shot with several seconds left on the shot clock.

"It wasn't the best shot," he said afterward, "I was just confident I was going to make it."

But often it works. His pass to Rubio in Oklahoma City was well-timed and confident. His ability to get to the rim in Phoenix is further proof that teams have to account for him in that role.

On a team with several emerging scoring options, Wiggins is the player the team has identified as the decision-maker in those situations.

"Wiggins and [Karl-Anthony Towns] are our weapons right now," Rubio said. "[Zach] LaVine, too. But at the end of the game, we know Wigs will be the guy who steps up. At the same time, all of us have to be ready. In Oklahoma City, the play was for him. I got the shot, but he made the play. Sometimes it will be him taking the shot. Sometimes it won't be. But he's going to be the one making the play."

Mitchell made a point of not questioning Wiggins' decision Monday.

"I don't pull out the tape and say, 'You should have done this or that,' " Mitchell said. "We trust him to make the decision to either take the shot or make the pass. After he took that shot, I haven't thought about it since."

It is a role Wiggins is growing into. It's rather new to him, he said, since it wasn't often his role either in high school or during his one season at Kansas.

"The last couple seconds, when coach puts the ball in my hands, it's just me and the rim," he said. "I'm just trying to put the ball in the basket. If I see an open teammate that has a better shot than me, I'm not going to hesitate to pass it."

In Oklahoma City, an opening Wiggins thought he saw closed abruptly, so he passed. In Phoenix, it stayed open.

Fans can expect Wiggins and Towns to work a two-man game more often at crunch time. In general, what Wiggins has to do is stay ready for every scenario and be willing to do whatever it takes.

"I'm not a selfish player," Wiggins said. "If a teammate has a better shot than me and I'm going to the basket, I'm going to try to set them up perfectly to get that best shot. I think I see the floor pretty well. But there are still a lot of things I can do better."

Staff Writer Jerry Zgoda contributed to this report