Timberwolves’ strong second half keeps Heat at bay for win

Anthony Edwards scored 26 points in 29 minutes, and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised to a 122-94 win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.

Jaden Daniels added 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting for Minnesota, which won its third game in a row. Julius Randle (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Rudy Gobert (13 points, 17 rebounds) each registered double-doubles, and Naz Reid scored 14 points off the bench.

Norman Powell scored 21 points to lead Miami, which lost to the Timberwolves for the second time in four days. Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware grabbed 11 rebounds apiece.

One bright spot for the Heat was the return of Tyler Herro, who played for the first time since Dec. 9. He showed no signs of a right big toe injury as he finished with 17 points and nine rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench.

The Timberwolves shot 45.5% (45 of 99) overall and 35.9% (14 of 39) from 3-point range. The Heat shot 35.7% (35 of 98) from the field and 32.4% (12 of 37) from deep.

Miami fell behind by 16 points by the end of the third quarter. Herro tried to keep the Heat in contention with a pair of jump shots in the final minute of the quarter, but Minnesota's Donte DiVincenzo responded each time with a 3-pointer.

DiVincenzo hit a step-back 3-pointer from 26 feet to make it 90-75 with 47 seconds left in the third quarter, and he followed with a pull-up 3-pointer from 30 feet to make it 93-77 with 27 seconds remaining in the session.

The Timberwolves held firm to the lead in the fourth quarter. After Gobert threw down a putback dunk to make it 110-82 with 4:40 remaining, the Heat called a timeout and both teams' coaches turned to their benches to replace many of the starters for the rest of the game.

Minnesota led 61-54 at the half.

Mike Conley finished the first-half scoring with a floating jump shot just before the buzzer. Gobert had grabbed a defensive rebound and pushed the ball up the court to set up the late basket.