Lakers lose in overtime despite D’Angelo Russell’s career high

The Lakers lost their fourth game in a row Wednesday night, falling in overtime to the Timberwolves in Minnesota, 123-122.

For the second consecutive game, Coach Byron Scott stuck with a starting lineup featuring forward Larry Nance Jr. and guard Lou Williams over Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell.

Down the stretch, Scott instead relied on his younger players, led by Russell, who scored a career-high 23 points and made the tying basket at the end of regulation.

Kobe Bryant did not play in the fourth quarter or overtime, finishing with 11 points in 24 1/2 minutes. Jordan Clarkson played only 23 minutes, scoring 14 points and suffering what appeared to be a mildly sprained ankle.

After a competitive first half that saw the Timberwolves take a 59-57 lead into the break, Minnesota pulled ahead by nine points in the third quarter. The Lakers closed the period well, heading into the fourth quarter down by three.

The Timberwolves pushed back ahead, but Russell made a pair of late three-pointers to get the Lakers within two. Minnesota rookie Karl-Anthony Towns hit a jumper with 39 seconds left.

But Williams closed the gap with a long two-pointer with 31 seconds left and the Lakers got one more stop, giving Russell the opportunity to tie it at 114 with a banked shot in the lane with 2.2 seconds left.

After an Andrew Wiggins miss led to start overtime, the Timberwolves pushed ahead quickly by five points, spurred by Kevin Martin, who finished the game with 37 points.

The Lakers fought back to tie on a Nick Young basket with 1:15 left in overtime. After Wiggins converted a layup, Randle had a shot to tie with 33.4 left, but he missed one of two free throws.

The Lakers got a defensive stop to give them an opportunity to win, but in the final seconds, Russell couldn’t make the potential game-winner with the Lakers down a point. Roy Hibbert rebounded the miss, but couldn’t connect on a fadeaway, giving the Timberwolves the victory.

Towns finished with 26 points with 14 rebounds, Wiggins added 19 points and Shabazz Muhammad scored 15.

The Lakers got 20 points and 12 rebounds from Randle, 19 points from Williams and 13 from Young.

The Lakers (3-19) will travel to San Antonio to play the Spurs (18-5) on Friday. The Timberwolves (9-12) also play on Friday, visiting the Denver Nuggets (8-14).

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.