Wolves record: 3-9
From the Associated Press:
After two days of listening to his coaches and teammates urge him to play with more intensity, the Minnesota Timberwolves guard did just that on Sunday.
Foye had 23 points and a career-high 14 assists, and the Timberwolves beat the Detroit Pistons 106-80 for their first road victory of the season.
Forty-eight hours after shooting a paltry 31 percent in a 95-78 loss to the Celtics, the Wolves torched the Pistons with a 53 percent performance from the field that featured three-pointers on 7 of 11 attempts (63.6 percent).
“To come back from 31 percent shooting, two days later, 53 percent — funny game sometimes,” coach Randy Wittman said.
Downright hilarious, considering the uncharacteristic way the Wolves — who entered play ranked 26th and 29th, respectively, in field-goal percentage and three-point shooting — dismantled a Detroit team that has qualified for six straight Eastern Conference finals.
Mike Miller’s 9-point, 8-rebound, 7-assist game sort of went unnoticed because of Foye’s play and a Wolves defense that held Rip Hamilton to 2 for 11 shooting, Allen Iverson to 3 for 11, Rasheed Wallace to 3 for 10 and Rodney Stuckey to 0 for 5.
This time, instead of making just two shots in the entire third quarter, as they did Friday, the Wolves used a 17-3 run to late in the quarter to turn an 11-point lead into 25.
And this time, the Wolves, second in the league in assists entering Sunday’s game, committed 13 turnovers all night and delivered 32 assists on 44 made field goals. Randy Foye had 14 of those — and 23 points, too — on a night when Wittman said the third-year guard finally showed “the guy he can be.”
Remember this day, Sunday, Nov. 23. This is the day the Pistons hit bottom.
And if getting thoroughly pummeled by the perennial lottery-bound Timberwolves at home isn’t rock bottom, then, well, you don’t want to see what rock bottom really looks like.
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