The Associated Press
ATLANTA—Andrew Wiggins was hoping he wouldn’t lose his shooting touch as the Atlanta Hawks kept pushing to wipe out a huge deficit.
“I was feeling it,” he said. “My shot was falling.
“My teammates kept encouraging me, giving me the ball.”
Wiggins tied a career high with 33 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 17, as the Minnesota Timberwolves blew a 34-point lead before snapping the Hawks’ seven-game winning streak with a 117-107 victory last night.
Atlanta never led until Paul Millsap’s runner with 3:26 left made it 107-106.
But Wiggins scored the next seven points to prevent one of the biggest collapses in NBA history.
“Any team down is going to come back fighting,” Wiggins said. “We knew that.”
Minnesota led 72-42 at halftime. The largest halftime deficit overcome to win was 34 points by Utah against Denver back on Nov. 27, 1996, according to research by STATS dating to the 1951-52 season.
Jeff Teague finished with 24 points and Millsap had 22 for the Hawks.
The Timberwolves avoided what would have been the franchise’s biggest blown lead in a loss.
They led by 29 before falling to Dallas on Dec. 30, 2008.
“We kept coming in the huddle and saying that we’re going to win this game,” Towns said.
“We had all the confidence in the world that we would get it together.”
Minnesota has its first four-game road winning streak since Jan. 3-19, 2009.
“It should tell you a lot,” Wiggins said.
“People don’t think we’re going to do anything this year. We want to surprise people.”
Elsewhere in the NBA, Indiana beat Orlando 97-84, Chicago dumped Philadelphia 111-88, Denver edged Portland 108-104, San Antonio bounced Sacramento 106-88, Golden State downed Detroit 109-95, and the L.A. Clippers nipped Memphis 94-92.
