Wolves record: 11-26
Their five-game winning streak — all since the calendar flipped to 2009 — ended Tuesday night at Target Center, where Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat came in from the cold and won 99-96 with a finishing flourish.
Ahead by 13 points in the second quarter and by five with 4 minutes, 23 seconds left, the Wolves allowed 13 of the game’s final 18 points, including the last four. Miami’s Olympian, All-Star and television commercial personality countered Randy Foye’s scoring and the Heat won the game at the free-throw line and by protecting the basketball a trifle better when it mattered most.
Wade scored 31 points to Foye’s 29, and the Heat outscored the Wolves 30-9 at the free-throw line and converted two unsuccessful Timberwolves attempts to push the pace in the final three minutes into four points that helped win the game.
Randy Foye scored 29 points, including a three-pointer that gave the Wolves a 96-95 lead with 1:55 to play, but missed his last three shots as Minnesota suffered its first loss of 2009.
Rodney Carney added 15 points off the bench for the Wolves (11-26). Star center Al Jefferson scored just nine points and suffered a cut above his right eyebrow that required seven stitches at the end of the first half.
Sebastian Telfair threw away a pass intended for Carney with 1:14 to play, and Jefferson lost the ball with 33.9 seconds left as the Heat scored the last four points to steal a game the Wolves believed they had won.
Al Jefferson’s nine-point night was his first single-digit game since Dec. 1. He got seven stitches at halftime to close a gash over his right eye he believed he got when Love inadvertantly struck him as the first half closed. Kevin McHale second-guessed himself for leaving Jefferson, Telfair and Ryan Gomes on the bench until less than three minutes remained in the game. McHale stuck with a second unit that included Rodney Carney, Love, Brian Cardinal and Mike Miller, the same crew that helped build a 13-point, second-quarter lead.
Mike Miller still can’t find his way offensively on this team. He was 1 for 7 and the game could have turned quite differently if he had made one of a number of those shots.
In pregame warmups, Wolves G Rashad McCants took a couple shots while sitting on the bench, which is exactly where he’s been for the entirety of four of the last five games…
The Timberwolves made 11 3-pointers, the first time in franchise history they have had three straight games with at least 10 makes from long distance.
From Jonah Ballow and Matt Everhart/Timberwolves site:
In the first defeat of 2009, Minnesota shot 40.7 percent from the field and destroyed Miami on the fast break points 19-5. With the lead late in the game, the Wolves also rushed several opportunities in the open floor and finished with 16 turnovers.
In the first defeat of 2009, Minnesota shot 40.7 percent from the field and destroyed Miami on the fast break points 19-5. With the lead late in the game, the Wolves also rushed several opportunities in the open floor and finished with 16 turnovers.
“We tried pushing the ball at the end of the game and had a couple turnovers but I thought the guys played hard,” McHale said.
Minnesota returns to practice tomorrow before boarding a flight to Phoenix where the team will face the Suns on Friday night.
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