Kent Bazemore scored 22 points (12 on 4 3-pointers), and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 105-100.
Bazemore’s 3-pointer put the Hawks ahead for good with 2:09 left in the fourth quarter.
The Timberwolves got within 101-100 on Taj Gibson’s putback with 1:03 to play. They had the ball down 1 with 41 seconds left, but Malcolm Delaney stole the ball from Jeff Teague, lifting the Hawks’ chance to win from 64% to 71%. A basket would have put the Timberwolves ahead. Dennis Schröder followed with 2 free throws, and the Timberwolves got no closer. They had the ball down 3, but Jimmy Butler III missed a pull-up 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left that would have tied it.
Schröder’s 2 free throws with 0.3 seconds left made it 105-100 and put it away.
During clutch time, the Hawks outscored the Timberwolves 14-8. Schröder scored 6 of the Hawks’ 14 on 1 for 3 shooting and 4 for 4 at the line. In the fourth quarter, Schröder had 4 of his 11 assists, 3 of them on baskets by Tyler Dorsey and Bazemore that put the Hawks ahead.
For the Timberwolves, Butler scored 24 points. Gibson had 17 points and 4 steals on 8 for 12 shooting. Karl-Anthony Towns had 15 points (10 in the paint) and 13 rebounds on 6 for 8 shooting.
The Hawks shot 49.4% from the field and 38.2% from 3 to the Timberwolves’ 47.0% and 36.8%. The Timberwolves got 7 offensive rebounds, about 4 fewer than usual for the shots they missed. The Hawks outscored the Timberwolves 46-24 off the bench.