ATLANTA – John Collins and Trae Young showed a glimpse of the Atlanta Hawks’ long-range plan.
In the process, they helped make it more difficult for Minnesota to realize its playoff dream this year.
Young matched the career high he set earlier this week with 36 points and Collins added 34 as the Hawks beat the Timberwolves 131-123 in overtime Wednesday night.
Young, a rookie, and Collins, in his second NBA season, are the foundation of the Hawks’ rebuilding effort with first-year coach Lloyd Pierce.
Veteran Vince Carter, still playing important minutes at 42 – 10 years older than T-Wolves coach Ryan Saunders – said he’s enjoying watching the kids grow into winners.
“It’s just great to see two guys having wonderful games like that while still making plays for others,” said Carter, who scored 17 points, including a 3-pointer to open overtime. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Collins scored 18 points in the fourth quarter as Atlanta, which trailed by 13 points late in the third period, rallied to force the extra period.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the T-Wolves with 37 points and 17 rebounds. Andrew Wiggins added 21 points.
It was a damaging loss for Minnesota, which fell four games behind San Antonio and the Los Angeles Clippers in an eighth-place tie in the Western Conference playoff race.
“We hope that one game isn’t going to affect our chances at the end, but you can point to a lot of one games,” Saunders said. “We just need to bounce back.”
The T-Wolves, who are 29-32 overall, fell to 9-22 on the road this season.
“We made it tough on ourselves,” Towns said. “It was that simple. We made the same mistakes. Costs us every time. So we’ll learn – we’ll learn one day.”
Atlanta’s DeAndre Bembry scored six of his 16 points in overtime, including back-to-back baskets for a 125-118 lead.
After a timeout, Towns had a dunk and a 3-pointer, his season-high fifth of the game. Bembry, who had only 10 points through regulation, answered with his third basket of the extra period, giving the Hawks a 127-123 advantage.
Each team missed last-second shots in regulation.
After Young’s basket tied it at 118, Derrick Rose missed a short jumper for Minnesota.
“Derrick is one of the best point guards that ever lived, so I’m OK with him taking that shot, but obviously I wanted the ball so I could shoot,” Towns said.
Atlanta called timeout with 0.5 seconds remaining. Young made a jumper off the inbounds pass from Carter, but a video review confirmed the shot came after the buzzer.
Josh Okogie, the T-Wolves’ rookie from Georgia Tech, had 15 points in his return to Atlanta.
T-Wolves point guard Jeff Teague missed his second straight game with a sore left knee. Tyus Jones again filled in as the starter.
Atlanta’s Dewayne Dedmon had seven points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 3:06 remaining. Teammate Kent Bazemore’s frustration grew as he missed each of his 12 shots through three quarters. He complained when no foul was called on a miss late in the period and drew a technical foul.
He missed two shots – a 3-pointer and a layup – on Atlanta’s next possession and didn’t attempt another shot.
The T-Wolves’ Luol Deng did not return after leaving with a sore left Achilles’ tendon in the first half.
Fellow forward Robert Covington was sent to G League Iowa as he moves closer to his return from a bone bruise on his right knee. He has missed 23 consecutive games since the injury happened on Dec. 31. Covington is expected to practice only at Iowa while the T-Wolves are on the road. The team signed forward Cameron Reynolds to a 10-day contract.