(Kansas City, MO) – After leading by as many as 19 points in the third quarter, the Miami Heat (1-1) could not keep up with their opponent in the second half as they fell 109-100 to the Minnesota Timberwolves (1-0) on Saturday night at Sprint Center.
Miami was again led on both ends of the court by rising star center Hassan Whiteside, who put together a stellar performance en route to a double-double with 17 points (7-of-10 shots made from the field), 12 rebounds and three blocked shots in 27Â minutes of action.
With the Heat already leading 62-47 at halftime, they quickly extended their lead to 19 over the Timberwolves early in the third quarter. However, the Timberwolves outscored the Heat by a whopping 41-23 margin in the third quarter to lead 88-85 heading into the final frame.
The Timberwolves’ young core consisting of small forward Andrew Wiggins and center Karl-Anthony Towns was fantastic on Saturday night, helping Minnesota outscore Miami in the second half, 62-38.
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Towns led all scorers with 20 points, 10 boards and two blocks, while Wiggins had 19 points (3-of-11 from the field and 13-of-16 from the charity stripe), two boards and one block.
For Miami, point guard Goran Dragic had 16 points and five assists in 27 minutes, while power forward Derrick Williams and shooting guard Dion Waiters both scored 14 points apiece.
Minnesota small forward Shabazz Muhammad came off the bench to put up 14 points and six rebounds, while power forward Nemanja Bjelica and shooting guard Brandon rush scored 12 and 11 points respectively.
For Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, he was very glad to see new Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau back coaching in the NBA.
“He’s too good of a coach not to be,” Spoelstra said. “He did a tremendous job with the Chicago Bulls and things happen that you can’t control. So I’m happy for him that he’s able to get back in. This is an exciting group to build around.”
Up next, the Heat are scheduled to host the Brooklyn Nets in their first home preseason game on Tuesday night at American Airlines Arena. The contest, which is scheduled to tip off shortly after 7:30 pm ET, will be broadcast live locally on Fox Sports Sun.
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