The Wolves come up inches short against the short-handed Celtics

The Minnesota Timberwolves were inches away from forcing overtime.

With 3.1 seconds left and trailing by three, Minnesota had one last chance to send it to an extra session. Julius Randle inbounded the ball to Anthony Edwards, but his 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim.

The result was a 118-115 loss to the Wolves on Thursday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

The Wolves (17-15) opened the fourth quarter on a 9-3 run that included two 3-pointers from Donte DiVincenzo, the latter of which tied the game at 94-94 with over nine minutes left in the game. The Celtics (25-9) and Wolves traded shots after that, and Minnesota got within 118-115 with under a minute left. They forced Jayson Tatum into a miss, Nickeil Alexander-Walker grabbed the defensive rebound, giving the Wolves a chance to tie it with 3.1 seconds left.

Tatum still finished with a game-high 33 points.

The Celtics were without both Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis due to injuries.

In a sign of how well the shots were falling for the Celtics, Derrick White knocked in a 3 with just over two minutes left to put it up 118-110. It was basically the dagger for Boston. White finished with 26 points.

The Celtics had just one turnover in the second half and shot 50% from the field for the game.

Jaden McDaniels scored eight points in the first quarter as the Wolves got off to a strong start, winning the opening frame 35-28. But they scored just 16 points in the second quarter as Boston pulled away to take a double-digit lead.

McDaniels finished with 19 points and eight boards. Julius Randle led Minnesota with 27 points, eight boards and seven assists. Naz Reid had 20 off the bench. Anthony Edwards had 15 points and six assists and scored just six after halftime.