Wolves record: 4-10
Craig Smith scored a season-high 23 points, Mike Miller drilled the game-winning jumper from the left baseline with 0.1 seconds left, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat Oklahoma City 105-103 Friday night to hand the Thunder a franchise record-tying 14th straight loss.
“It’s definitely frustrating when you lose at the buzzer. It doesn’t matter if you’re not on a win streak,” reigning Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant said. “Any team would hate to lose like this.”
Oklahoma City rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter and had a brief moment to celebrate after Durant hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:05 to play, but it was the Timberwolves taking turns giving Miller leaping chest bumps at midcourt when the final buzzer sounded.
In the process, the Wolves got a dose of revenge on Oklahoma City and forward Chris Wilcox, who provided them with some bulletin-board material after the teams’ first meeting.
“We heard what Chris said last time in the paper,” Smith said. “How you’re supposed to beat a team like Minnesota. We wanted to prove him wrong, that they couldn’t beat us even on their home floor.”
With vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale making a rare road appearance, the Wolves appeared to put the game away in the third quarter, outscoring the Thunder 35-22 to take a 79-70 lead.
Oklahoma City, though, twice closed to within a basket before two Wilcox free throws got his team even at 92-92 with 4:22 remaining.
Miller faked a defender into the air — just as assistant coach Jerry Sichting reminded him to do as the team came out of a timeout — stepped inside the three-point line and made the open shot.
“Automatic,” Smith said of Miller’s shooting skill, “but it takes too dang long. It’s textbook — pump-fake, one dribble, knock the shot down — but it was like in slow motion.”
Smith scored 23 points — 11 of them on a career-high 15 free-throw attempts — and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench on a night when Wittman shortened his bench by leaving Rashad McCants there all night and by employing Smith and Kevin Love to combat a smallish Thunder team that outrebounded the Wolves 19-9 on the offensive backboards the last time but got beaten there 13-7 on Friday.
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