Atlanta native Damien Wilkins, whose brother Dominique is a color radio announcer for the Hawks franchise for which he once starred, started the fourth quarter off with a steal and scored eight of his 15 points off the bench in a 10-0 Minnesota run that cut Atlanta’s lead to 78-76.
Wilkins’ three-point play with 10:14 to go, on a possession that began with him blocking a Horford shot at the other end, might’ve prompted a Woodson timeout but for the fact he’d just called one 17 seconds earlier.
After Johnson missed a shot for Atlanta, Kevin Love grabbed one of his 12 rebounds, and soon the Wolves were shooting for the lead.
Rookie Wayne Ellington missed a 3-pointer, though, and Bibby grabbed the rebound.
Jefferson took little satisfaction in playing a competitive game against Atlanta after losing by 25 in Minneapolis on Dec. 22. The Timberwolves have dropped eight straight in the series.
“At the end of the day we still lost the game, so I can’t be too excited about whether we lost to them by 20 or we lost to them by six,” Jefferson said. “We still lost.”
• A tired body and back-to-back games apparently finally caught up with Milicic. He played 11 minutes after getting 19 and 24 in his first two games and had no points, two rebounds and three personal fouls.
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