By Jerry Zgoda, Minneapolis Star Tribune

CLEVELAND — That’s why he’s the greatest.

LeBron James exchanged proverbial punches with Jimmy Butler and the Timberwolves all night Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena and stood with his arms raised toward the rafters after his game-winning shot over Butler beat the Wolves 140-138 in overtime.

Butler made his first eight shots Wednesday, didn’t miss one until the third quarter and then scored his team’s first seven of overtime that gave the Wolves a 136-133 lead fewer than three minutes left.

But James tied the score with his fifth three-pointer – and his 31st, 32nd and 33rd points of the night — with 1:56 remaining.

When Andrew Wiggins’ jumper put the Wolves ahead 138-136 in the final 90 seconds, the Cavaliers got the ball back after each team missed a shot and James drove past Wiggins to score a layup and tied the score at 138 with exactly 24 seconds left in overtime.

James then swatted Butler’s potential game-winning layup away as the overtime’s final seconds ticked away.

The Cavaliers called timeout with a second left and then pulled off the improbable in that mere second, in-bounding the ball from beyond half-court with a heave to James at the other free-throw line.

He caught the ball, turned and shot over Butler’s outstretched hand and won the game.

Trailing 124-116 with 3 ½ minutes left, the Wolves scored eight points answered and tied the score at 124 with 2:02 left.

They started that burst with Andrew Wiggins’ three-point shot and ended it with driving scores by Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns, the last one coming with Towns’ emphatic slam dunk.

The teams traded baskets before the Cavaliers committed a 24-second shot clock violation.

Towns made his sixth three-pointer of the night without a miss – and set a franchise record for consecutive threes made over consecutive games – for a 129-126 lead with 56 seconds left.

But James answered right back with a three-pointer of his own and when Butler missed at the other end with 22 seconds left, the Cavs took a timeout and then put the ball in their superstar’s hands.

James dribbled out the clock before launched a three-pointer over defender Butler that missed just a smidge right and the game went to overtime.

It just beat a Wolves team for which stars Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns combined to score 75 points.

By midway through the third quarter, Butler, Towns and Wiggins had combined to make 20 of 25 shots from the field, including 9-for-10 on three-pointers. Butler made his first eight shots Wednesday and didn’t miss one from the field until 4:15 remained in the third quarter.

Towns made all six three-point shots he attempted, which extended a perfect three-point shooting streak to 10 consecutive without a miss.

That broke the franchise record of nine for most consecutive makes, set by Martell Webster in April 2011.

The Wolves now have lost nine of their last 10 road games after they started the season 11-8 in games away from Target Center.

The Wolves led by four points early in the second quarter and then quickly trailed by seven after a 9-2 Cavaliers’ run.

But the Wolves came right back with a 10-0 run late in the half that wiped away the deficits and gave them a 66-62 lead with 25 seconds left before James scored the half’s final two points.

The Wolves made nine three-pointers by halftime, the most they’ve made in a first half since they went 11-for-14 against the Cavaliers on Dec. 4, 2010 at Target Center.

Towns made three of his nine consecutive threes in that first half.

The Wolves trailed 101-99 after three quarters, then opened the fourth quarter with consecutive three-pointers made by Jamal Crawford and Nemanja Bjelica and suddenly they led 105-101 with 11 minutes left in the game.

But the Cavs kept shooting, and making.

They made consecutive three-pointers themselves right back in a 15-4 run that answered and built a 116-109 lead with 6 ½ minutes left.

The last time these teams played, the Wolves led by 41 points and won 127-99 in a game that ended a six-game losing streak to the Cavs.

James took eight shots from the field and scored a mere 10 points on a night when Andrew Wiggins scored another 25 points against the team that drafted and traded him before he ever played a game in Cleveland.

“Every game is different,” Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said before Wednesday’s game. “That game was a long time ago. When this game comes, it will be different than that game.”

It came with Wolves guard Marcus Georges-Hunt a late scratch from the lineup because of illness while Cavaliers guards Dwyane Wade (rest) and Iman Shumpert (foot) didn’t play, either.

Wednesday’s game came on the eve of the NBA’s annual trade deadline, which is two weeks earlier this year than in seasons past.

Wolves coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau was asked before Wednesday’s game if some of his players will rest easier once the 2 p.m. Central time deadline passes Thursday.

“That’s the challenge of the NBA,” Thibodeau said. “Every day there’s something. That’s why it’s important to be disciplined, have a routine and stick to the routine. Get yourself ready to play. Every night there’s something. For every 100 trades that get talked about, one happens. Just be ready to go.”