MINNEAPOLIS — Trailing by a degree with 7.2 seconds left, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch checked out Karl-Anthony Towns within the huddle and advised him he’d get the ball with an opportunity to place Minnesota forward.
It arrange Cities for a memorable return from a proper calf damage.
Cities drove to his proper in opposition to Atlanta’s John Collins, drawing a foul. He transformed each free throws with 3.6 seconds left to ship Minnesota to a 125-124 win in opposition to the Hawks on Wednesday night time.
“Shoutout to Finch having that confidence in me after 51 video games and the entire issues I needed to take care of,” stated Cities stated, who scored 22 factors. “I simply knew in my bones I wasn’t going to overlook.”
However officers acknowledged after the sport they missed on the sport’s remaining play.
A foul wasn’t referred to as as Minnesota’s Taurean Prince appeared to make contact with Atlanta’s Saddiq Bey after Bey secured an offensive rebound. After reviewing it following the sport, crew chief Ben Taylor advised a pool reporter a foul ought to have been referred to as.
“On postgame evaluation, we see it,” Taylor stated. “It seems that Prince strikes again into Bey’s house, and we must always have assessed a foul on the play.”
Naz Reid added 26 factors off the bench, and Jaden McDaniels had 25 for Minnesota, which trailed by 10 factors with 7:18 remaining however used a 19-5 run to get again within the sport.
Atlanta led 124-123 with 50.5 seconds left after a pair of free throws by Trae Young, organising Cities’ huge end.
“It is clearly one of many beauties of KAT,” Finch stated. “You can provide him the ball in numerous locations on the ground in high-leverage conditions. He’ll get a clear look, put numerous stress to get the foul.”
Cities had been out since Nov. 28 with the damage. And Minnesota had misplaced three of 4 and slid to ninth place within the Western Convention starting the night time.
“It is what films is manufactured from; it is what desires is manufactured from,” Cities stated. “I am glad my film had a very good ending.”
Minnesota had a 10-11 document when Cities went out because the workforce struggled at instances to adapt to having two huge males on the court docket collectively in Cities and newcomer Rudy Gobert.
Cities, a three-time All-Star, obtained a particular pregame introduction and was cheered loudly by the house crowd. He returned to a workforce that discovered its rhythm, with Anthony Edwards carrying the scoring load and a bunch of veterans filling complementary roles. Edwards was listed as questionable for Wednesday’s sport however missed his third straight contest due to a sprained proper ankle.
The Timberwolves additionally traded Cities’ good buddy D’Angelo Russell and bought Mike Conley on the commerce deadline.
“More than happy with him coming again and giving us what he gave us,” Conley stated of Cities. “He is simply going to get higher and higher, I consider. For me, it is one other man we’re including in and I acquired to get used to taking part in alongside.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
