T-Wolves net controversial winner over OKC

It should be an interesting NBA Last Two Minute Report on Monday.

On the final play of the Thunder’s 115-113 loss to Minnesota on Sunday, Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau appeared to be calling a timeout before Andrew Wiggins streaked down the court for a 30-foot buzzerbeater. The Timberwolves had no timeouts remaining.

On the same play, Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns slid over to screen Paul George and appeared to commit an offensive foul that freed up Wiggins for the game-winner and simultaneously toppled George with a blow to the knee in the process.

Russell Westbrook said he thought it was an illegal screen by Towns.

“I haven’t seen it, but I think it is just based on a conversation we had in the locker room,” Westbrook said.

Thunder coach Billy Donovan said he saw George go down, but didn’t see the entire play.

“If it was an illegal screen, the officials will deal with that stuff,” Donovan said. “For me, it’s more about focusing on our team and what we have to do and what we could have done differently.”

As for the timeout, Donovan said he saw a replay of Thibodeau trying to call timeout “a bunch,” but was more concerned with what the Thunder could control.

“We’re in control of what we can do,” Donovan said. “People want to point fingers at why things happen all the time instead of saying, ‘OK, how did I contribute to it?’ I think we’ve got to look at coming down the stretch what are the things we could have done better.

“We gave up some offensive rebounds. There were some things we did well, things we did poorly, but it’s more kind of us. No question that was going on, I saw that, but for me I let the NBA league office deal with that. That’s their problem. I’ve got to deal with what we’ve got to try to get better at.”

For games within three points at any point in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime, the NBA releases a Last Two Minute report which assesses “all calls (whistles) and notable non-calls.” The reports are typically made available the day following a game on official.nba.com.

Defense tightens in 4th

Over the last two games, the Thunder has shown a propensity to allow frontcourt players to streak down the lane unmolested. George thought the Thunder should have been more physical against Utah’s Rudy Gobert, who went off for a couple of big dunks in OKC’s loss in Salt Lake City.

Through three quarters on Sunday, the Thunder’s defense allowed 88 points and 50 percent from the field. And while the Timberwolves shot 50 percent in the fourth quarter, they also committed seven turnovers, spearheaded by George, who was disruptive starting the quarter alongside Raymond Felton, Jerami Grant, Carmelo Anthony and Alex Abrines with the Thunder trailing by 13 points.

George has logged nine steals in the last two games. But Minnesota’s Towns and Wiggins combined for nine points in the final 1:43 — all on contested shots.

“Better, better,” Donovan said of the Thunder’s defense. “There was a lot of possessions we could have been a little more aggressive on. Give Minnesota credit. They made some very difficult shots. We forced them to make some really hard shots.”