Timberwolves in a hole after epic collapse, mistakes from Karl-Anthony Towns and

MINNEAPOLIS — The match was lit. Target Center was ablaze, and the Timberwolves appeared to be steamrolling toward a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference series with the Memphis Grizzlies. It was exactly what these fans have waited so long to see; a team that was capable of exceeding expectations, playing together and earning their trust.

With 1:05 to play in the third quarter, the Timberwolves led by 21 points, and the arena was in full-on celebration mode. These Timberwolves had bottled up Ja Morant, gotten Jaren Jackson Jr. into foul trouble and unlocked the struggling D’Angelo Russell. Even after giving up a 26-point lead in the second quarter, things were fine. The Wolves were in control, and it was only a matter of time before they finished off the victory and set up a Game 4 on Saturday night that could have blown the roof off the place.

Instead, what followed was a Vikings-level collapse. Until now, the Timberwolves have played precious few games with the stakes to break the Minnesota sports fan’s heart the way the Vikings have so many times over the years. They finally had one on Thursday night, and they promptly collapsed down the stretch in epic fashion, getting outscored 50-13 over the last 15 minutes in a 104-95 loss to the Grizzlies that put them down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Over the game’s final 15 minutes, Memphis outscored Minnesota 50-16, including 37-12 in the fourth quarter. The Wolves were 3-for-19 in the fourth, including 1-for-11 from 3-point range. The Grizzlies out-rebounded the Wolves 19-5 in the final period, and Patrick Beverley missed all five of his shots, including a wide-open corner 3 that would have tied it with three minutes to play.

“Twelve points second quarter, 12-point fourth quarter is unacceptable,” Beverley said. “We’ll look at the film. We’ll get better at that. We generated the shots we wanted. We defended well. They only had 104 points. So it looked bad, but it doesn’t feel as bad as it really was.”

That was really all Beverley could say. Of course this felt bad. The Wolves were totally dominating the Grizzlies at two different points in the game. But their 26-point lead in the second quarter shrunk to seven by halftime thanks to a stagnant offense, and their 25-point lead in the third quarter was gone less than five minutes into the fourth due to stagnant offense and an inability to match the Grizzlies’ energy.

Minnesota sports fans have seen losses like this so many times before, but the Timberwolves have rarely been good enough to get fans to open their hearts to them the same way they have to the Vikings and Twins, two franchises that have often disappointed in big moments. After splitting in Memphis, the Wolves returned home to a hero’s welcome. Target Center was filled to the brim, and the noise was ear-splitting.

A team that has often been a laughingstock played a near-perfect first quarter, building an 18-point lead that swelled to 26 in the second. But the Wolves’ inability to close quarters killed them, and Karl-Anthony Towns’ foul trouble resurfaced to add to a growing list of troubling playoff performances on his resume. He had five personal fouls that limited him to 32:46 of playing time, and he took only four shots in the game.

Towns was coming off of a disappointing performance in Game 2, when he had 15 points and 11 rebounds but was held to 28 minutes because of foul trouble. He was 3-for-11 with 11 points before fouling out in the Play-In Tournament win over the Clippers.

Towns has been the team’s best and most reliable player this season, but his performance in two of the three playoff games in this series threatens to overshadow all of the truly great progress he has made. His past two years were essentially lost to injuries, COVID-19 and the death of his mother. But this season he returned to the All-Star game, bonded with his teammates like never before and appeared to be putting his big-spot struggles behind him with 29 points and 13 rebounds in Minnesota’s Game 1 win in Memphis.

But four shots? For the franchise player? Towns wasn’t interested in discussing it.

“Next question,” he said.

There were several reasons for the low usage. Russell and Beverley started the game hot, with Beverley taking the ball right at Morant to build an early lead. Russell broke out of his shooting slump with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting through the first three quarters. But he went 0-of-3 in the fourth.

“I think we get too high, and it comes back and it haunts us,” Russell said. “Losses, try not to get too low. Things like that. When we’re making runs and doing that and we’re at home, I think we should be even-keel and stay locked in to that moment and what we’re doing to get to this feeling of we’re excited.”

Towns picked up two fouls in the first and two in the second, making it hard for him to get a rhythm with his teammates when he was constantly being pulled to the bench to protect him from…