NEMANJA Bjelica broke the fifth tie of overtime with two free throws with 48.3 seconds left and the Sacramento Kings, after an improbable rally that forced the extra session, held off the host Minnesota Timberwolves 133-129 on Monday night.
Buddy Hield scored a career-high 42 points off the bench for the Kings, including 12 during a 21-4 regulation-ending flurry that erased a 17-point deficit in the final 2:49.
Andrew Wiggins scored 36 points, including seven 3-pointers, for the Timberwolves, who set season highs for threes (23) and 3-point percentage (50).
Bjelica’s free throws gave the Kings a 131-129 lead, and Sacramento survived three subsequent Timberwolves bids at a tie, including a Wiggins 3-point attempt with four seconds remaining after De’Aaron Fox had added a free throw with 7.4 seconds left to create a three-point margin.
The Kings’ Kent Bazemore iced the win with one foul shot with 3.6 seconds to go, allowing Sacramento to finish its five-game trip with two straight wins.
The loss was the Timberwolves’ 10th straight overall and seventh in a row at home.
After falling behind by many as 16 points in the first quarter, Sacramento still trailed 115-98 with just 2:49 to go after Wiggins’ seventh 3-pointer of the game. But the Kings scored 21 of the final 25 points in regulation, forging a 119-all tie that led to overtime.
The Kings got three 3-pointers and three free throws from Hield in an 18-4 burst that made it a three-point game with 30.9 seconds to play.
After Wiggins misfired from 18 feet with 6.8 seconds left, the Kings rebounded and had a chance to tie.
The Timberwolves intentionally fouled Fox with 4.7 seconds left. After he made the first free throw to pull to 119-117, he intentionally missed the second, rebounded his own miss and nailed a shot that tied the score.
Karl-Anthony Towns then misfired on a buzzer-beating 17-footer, sending the game to overtime.
Hield shot 14 for 24 overall from the field and 9 for 14 on 3-pointers.
Fox finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, and Bjelica with 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Kings, who shot 50 percent from the field and 18 for 40 on threes.
Bazemore added 15 points, Harrison Barnes 12 and Bogdan Bogdanovic 11.
