Anthony Edwards scored 41 points on 15-for-29 shooting as the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 117-110 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Julius Randle finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota, which won its fourth game in a row and prevailed for the seventh time in eight contests. Jaden McDaniels had 16 points, and Ayo Dosunmu chipped in 14 off the bench.
Jaylen Wells scored 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting to lead Memphis. Cedric Coward contributed 15 points off the bench, and Ty Jerome scored 14 points.
The Timberwolves outscored the Grizzlies 60-48 in the second half to secure the victory.
Edwards drained a 3-pointer to put the Timberwolves on top 111-94 with 3:41 to play before Memphis tried to stage a late rally.
The Grizzlies closed the game on a 16-6 run to cut the deficit to single digits.
Coward sparked the late comeback attempt. He scored 10 points in 1:17 on a pair of free throws, a layup, a three-point play and a shot from beyond the arc.
Minnesota held strong as Edwards made two free throws to boost the lead to 116-110 with 17.2 seconds left. Randle added a free throw with 6.6 seconds to go.
The Timberwolves led 89-82 at the end of the third quarter.
Jerome knocked down a step-back 3-pointer to put the Grizzlies on top 70-62 with 9:49 left in the third. That eight-point lead quickly disappeared.
Minnesota scored the next six points on a putback layup by Rudy Gobert, a driving shot by Edwards and a layup by Randle. That started a 27-9 run for the Timberwolves, who increased their lead to 89-79 with 2:07 remaining in the period.
Kyle Anderson made his return to the Timberwolves one day after the team signed him. Memphis bought out Anderson’s contract last week, which cleared the way for the veteran to return to Minnesota, where he played from 2022-24.
Timberwolves fans gave a standing ovation to Anderson the first time he entered the game off the bench. He finished with two points in 14 minutes.
