Wolves record: 16-28
Stephen Litel/MinnesotaSCORE posts his game notes
Two months ago, the Wolves went to Detroit nearly lifeless after a 2-9 season start, and they transformed an 11-point lead into a 25-point, third-quarter bulge that produced an inexplicable runaway victory.
On Wednesday, they carried the NBA’s best record in 2009 into Target Center and this time frittered away an 11-point, third-quarter lead and a three-game winning streak with a loss that left coach Kevin McHale and his players mystified.
The frontcourt for Minnesota was productive despite the loss. Jefferson scored 24 points and Love posted his ninth straight double-double performance. Craig Smith added eight points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field. Sebastian Telfair was battling a sore leg and was called for his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter. Telfair was limited to only eight points and three assists in the loss as the Wolves dropped to 16-28 on the season.
Rasheed Wallace scored seven of his 25 points in the final minute, 48 seconds as the Pistons erased an 11-point, third-quarter deficit and avenged a 106-80 home loss to Minnesota on Nov. 23.
Al Jefferson scored 24 points to lead the Wolves, who had a five-point lead with less than six minutes remaining but were outscored 15-3 in the last 3:40.
“We had a chance to put it away and we just didn’t do it for some reason,” Jefferson said.
Coach Kevin McHale was equally dumbfounded after watching his team struggle to get out in transition and lift itself out of a fog that seemed to cloak it all game.
“That hasn’t been our M.O. for a while,” McHale said. “Sitting there, it just felt like we couldn’t get out of second gear.”
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