The Timberwolves’ winning streak ended at eight games Monday night at Target Center with a 132-130 overtime loss to depleted Indiana.
The same team that hadn’t lost since Feb. 28 finally succumbed to the Pacers and forward Obi Toppin, who made seven three-pointers, including the winner with 3.5 seconds left.
Toppin scored 34 points and was 7-for-10 on threes — including four made in the final three minutes of OT — while Wolves All-Star Anthony Edwards scored 38 points but was 1-for-11 on his threes.
The loss came after the Wolves won their eighth straight game Sunday night, dispatching visiting Utah. It also came without starting center Rudy Gobert down the stretch after he and Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard were ejected after a third-quarter exchange. Following a video review, Gobert was assessed a flagrant foul-2 and Nembhard was given his second technical foul of the game.
In Monday’s second game of a back-to-back set, the Wolves (40-30) trailed an opponent missing four starters by 15 points in the second quarter. They then led by eight early in the fourth quarter, by two with 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter and by five points with 66 seconds left in OT.
But they couldn’t put the game away against the Pacers (38-29), who now have won three of four.
“They just played harder,” Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “They had a lot of guys out, and they came out and competed. They had a chip on their shoulder, and we didn’t. We started playing when we were down (15 points). That’s no excuse.”
Indiana’s T.J. McConnell made a driving layup to tie the score at 117 with 4.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and Edwards’ fadeaway three missed at the buzzer. In overtime, Toppin made his final three with 3.5 seconds left and Wolves forward Julius Randle’s turnaround, 12-foot shot missed in the final second.