Cavs hold off Timberwolves in overtime

The Cavs, who overturned a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun the league-leading Boston Celtics on Tuesday, held on for the win over a Timberwolves team that came in as Western Conference leaders but finished the night half a game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder — who beat the Miami Heat 107-100.

Cleveland, without injured starters Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Max Strus, found the firepower to overcome Minnesota, who were coming off a draining victory over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday.

Allen’s career-high in points included 10 in overtime when the Timberwolves had to make do without star center Rudy Gobert, who fouled out with 27 seconds left in regulation.

Angry at the foul call, Gobert made a “money” gesture toward a referee and was charged with a technical foul.

Garland made the technical free-throw to tie it up at 97-97 and force overtime.

Gobert said he thought his reaction was “the truth” but admitted it was an ill-judged gesture.

“It cost my team the game,” he said. “It was an immature reaction. It’s not just one call. Everyone makes mistakes, but when it’s over and over and over again, of course it’s frustrating.”

Micah Nori, who stood in for Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch after Finch began feeling ill before tip-off, called Gobert’s actions at a crucial moment in the game “unacceptable.”

“That’s who Rudy is, but you’ve got to be smart,” Nori said. “He was obviously frustrated, both teams were, but we have to be smarter.”

Naz Reid scored a career-high 34 points for Minnesota and Anthony Edwards added 19 but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter and overtime.

“We tried to show him as many bodies as we can,” Garland said of defending Edwards, who had 44 points in Thursday’s win over Indiana.

“We knew that he played a tough game last night against Indiana so we just tried to wear him out with a lot of bodies and just try to be a little bit physical with him.”

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City erased a 14-point deficit to beat the Heat. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 23 of his 37 points in the second half to fuel the turnaround.

The Thunder put together a 17-0 scoring run early in the third quarter to take a 68-65 lead and never trailed again.

In other games, Zion Williamson scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the New Orleans Pelicans, who surged to a 35-point lead midway through the second quarter and held on to beat the injury-depleted 76ers in Philadelphia.

The 76ers, struggling with NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey sidelined, cut the deficit to five points with less than a minute to play, but couldn’t complete what would have been a monumental comeback.

– Wizards end skid –
In Washington, the Wizards snapped a 16-game losing streak with a 112-100 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

Kyle Kuzma fueled the Wizards with 28 points and Deni Avdija added 18 for Washington, who had matched the franchise’s longest losing streak but avoided going one worse.

In New York, Jalen Brunson returned from a bruised knee injury and scored 26 points for the Knicks, who got off to a hot start en route to a 98-74 rout of the Orlando Magic.

The Knicks never trailed, and held the Magic to the lowest points total in the league this season.

Later Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers hosted Eastern Conference contenders Milwaukee, with Lakers superstar LeBron James sidelined with a sore ankle.

James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer who on Saturday took his regular-season career points tally past the 40,000 mark, departed late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ loss to Sacramento on Wednesday.

He said after the game that it was the same left ankle trouble he’s dealt with before this season and he expected to be “fine,” but he was ruled out a few hours before Friday’s game. — Agence France-Presse