12/31/2009 - 19:19
Al, Wolves Come Up Short
by
Matt Martino
Wednesday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves played their best fourth quarter of the season against the Utah Jazz.
Unfortunately, it was not enough for Al Jefferson and Co. to overcome yet another poor second-half start.
The Wolves trailed by 17 with 4:30 remaining, but cut the deficit to three after a pair of 3-pointers by Kevin Love with 35 seconds left. Minnesota, however, was unable to pull any closer as the Jazz survived, 107-103.
Al once again led the team in scoring with 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting. He also added nine rebounds, four assists, and five blocks for the Wolves, who took a 47-46 halftime lead. The Jazz then opened the third quarter on a 9-1 run. Utah added a 10-0 burst later in the period to build a big enough cushion to survive the Minnesota rally.
Despite winning only seven games so far this season, the Timberwolves had been 2-0 against Utah before Wednesday night's loss.
"Overall, our demise was probably attributed to us coming out of the locker room in the third quarter not ready to play," Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis told the Pioneer Press.
The Wolves committed five turnovers in the quarter and made only 9 of 20 shots from the floor.
"We can't keep blaming how we play in the third quarter on youth and inexperience," Love, who was one assist short of a triple-double, added. "We have no excuses to come out flat like that after halftime ... to not battle hard for the fans, the coaches and ourselves. We need to learn how to get past this pretty quick or we'll keep missing opportunities to win games like this."
NEXT UP
Minnesota’s New Year’s resolution will be to solve their third-quarter woes. They start the New Year at the Target Center where they will host the Orlando Magic (23-8) on Friday.
This is the first meeting of the season between these teams. Last year, Al averaged 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in two games against Orlando.
Tip-off of the New Year's Day meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST and all the action can be seen on KSTC-45.
RELATED STORIES
Another third-quarter lull sends Minnesota Timberwolves to 26th loss (Pioneer Press, December 31, 2009)
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_14097908?source=rss
Williams has 21 points, 12 rebounds in Jazz win (AP, December 30, 2009)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=291230016
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