Jazz-Timberwolves Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Feb 22 2012 12:23AM

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz have both fallen below the .500 mark.

Only one of the clubs will be able to even its record before the All-Star break.

The Timberwolves and Jazz look to regroup Wednesday night in Minnesota in their final game before this weekend's festivities.

After leading by as many as 14 points early, Minnesota (16-17) saw its three-game winning streak snapped with Monday's 103-101 overtime loss at Denver. The Timberwolves had a chance to tie the game after stealing an inbounds pass with 3.9 seconds remaining in the extra session, but Martell Webster drove in for a dunk instead of pulling up for a 3-point attempt.

"If I had to do it over again, yeah, I'd probably pull up for a jump shot," Webster said. "But what was going through my mind was go to the rim and possibly get fouled. The contingency to that shot was get a bucket, get a foul, they miss free throws and we get another shot. It didn't work out that way."

The Jazz (15-16) also let one slip away Monday, suffering their ninth loss in 12 games with a 106-102 defeat at home to San Antonio.

"It's a tough loss, especially the position we've been in, especially the last (12) games," backup point guard Earl Watson said. "It's tough. All you can do is keep playing hard, keep doing the best you can, keep pushing forward."

Utah also fell 101-85 at Houston on Sunday.

"The last three games (before the break) are very important, so far we're 0-2," said Al Jefferson, who posted 20 points and 11 rebounds Monday for his fifth double-double in six games. "We gotta try to finish this one at the .500 mark. Minnesota's playing well right now, we just gotta go in there and find a way to win."

Jefferson, who spent three seasons with Minnesota from 2007-10, has since led the Jazz to four wins in five meetings against his former team. He had 18 points and 12 boards in a 108-98 home victory Jan. 21 while helping limit Timberwolves star Kevin Love to 15 points and eight rebounds.

Love, who's recorded an NBA-leading 29 double-doubles in just 31 games, compiled 22 points and 13 rebounds versus the Nuggets on Monday but went 7 of 22 from the field. The two-time All-Star is shooting 31.1 percent over his last two contests.

The Timberwolves had dropped four of five home meetings in this series before prevailing 122-101 on March 11 while holding Jefferson to nine points and 4-of-13 shooting.

Minnesota is 9-2 at the Target Center when holding opponents under 100 points. Utah has dropped seven of its last eight road games, and is averaging 91.6 points away from home.

The Timberwolves could be without starting center Nikola Pekovic after he sprained his right ankle Monday. Pekovic had been averaging 21.0 points and 11.6 rebounds over his previous five games before getting hurt. Fellow center Darko Milicic is also uncertain to be available after sitting out against Denver due to a stomach ailment.

Utah shooting guard Raja Bell could miss a second straight game after re-injuring his right adductor.

Ridnour's buzzer-beater lifts Wolves past Jazz

Posted Feb 23 2012 12:09AM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Soft-spoken and quiet, Luke Ridnour does his job with little fanfare.

After sending the Timberwolves to a buzzer-beater victory heading into the All-Star break, he couldn't help but enjoy the moment, at least for a little bit.

Ridnour hit a floater in the lane at the buzzer, capping Minnesota's comeback from 16 points down in the fourth quarter as the Timberwolves beat the Utah Jazz 100-98 on Wednesday night.

Utah's Al Jefferson sank a jumper with Love in his face to tie the score at 98 with 7 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, Ridnour took a pass from J.J. Barea, drove the lane, and sank a high-arching runner off of one leg over Jefferson as the buzzer sounded.

"Luke knocks that down all the time," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said. "The floater, he knows he's got to get it off before he gets to the big guys. That was unbelievable, in traffic, getting around the guy and knocking it down. Couldn't be happier for him."

Ridnour said the play was for Barea to attack off the pick-and-roll, but two Utah defenders switched and took that option away so Barea found Ridnour.

"Yeah, I thought it was going in," Ridnour said. "To see it go in was a good feeling."

Barea finished with a season-high 22 points and tied a career high with five 3-pointers, and Ridnour added 17 points. Nikola Pekovic, playing through an ankle injury, added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Paul Millsap scored 25 and Josh Howard added a season-high 19 to lead the Jazz, who lost their third straight and stumble into the All-Star break.

"It's a tough one, just hands down," Howard said. "That's something that's going to be on your mind for a little bit."

Wolves rookie Derrick Williams converted a three-point play with 56.7 seconds left to tie the score at 93, then got fouled attempting a fastbreak layup after Love's steal. Williams made both free throws with 42.5 seconds left to give Minnesota its first lead since 2-0, and the Timberwolves didn't trail again.

"I like to get put in those clutch situations," Williams said. "I feel a little more comfortable, a little more locked in. At that point in time, I was just like, `I can't miss these free throws."'

Gordon Hayward had a chance to tie it with 28.7 seconds to play, but missed the second of two free throws.

The Wolves enter the All-Star break at .500 or better for the first time since the 2004-05 season. Their 17 wins matches their total from last season.

Consecutive 3-pointers from Barea and Ridnour cut Utah's lead to 91-90 with just over two minutes to play. Ridnour also made two free throws with 26.3 seconds left to extend Minnesota's lead to 97-94.

The Wolves have fallen behind by 14 or more points in 12 of their last 21 games, but are 12-9 over that stretch. Their latest comeback was their largest of the season.

"Anytime you're on the road and you let a team back in it, they start thinking they can make shots and they start playing harder on defense," Hayward said. "It just can't happen."

Utah led by as many as 18 and kept pounding the ball inside to stay ahead. The Jazz - second in the NBA in points in the paint per game - finished with 58 points inside.

The Jazz lost their third straight and fourth consecutive on the road. They've had two road losing streaks of four or more games this season and have lost eight of their last 10 overall.

"It's disheartening to us, but you have to learn through it," Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said. "We play well enough to win these games, but we have to learn how to finish. It's real painful now and it should hurt. Coming out of the All-Star break we have to learn our lessons so we don't make these mistakes."

Howard started for Raja Bell, who missed the game with a strained left adductor.

Minnesota shot just 31 percent in the first half with their starting frontcourt of Love, Pekovic and Wes Johnson going a combined 2 for 19.

The Wolves finished the game on a 33-15 run and shot 52.4 percent in the fourth quarter.

"Our goal was to get to .500 at the break a couple weeks ago when we were four or five games under and we were able to do that," Ridnour said. We understand what we have in the second half of the season with the tough schedule, but just to put yourself in a chance to make the playoffs, getting to .500 is big."

NOTES: Minnesota trailed 83-67 with 9:36 left before rallying to win. It's the largest lead the Wolves have overcome that late into a game since Feb. 27, 1997, at Dallas. ... Corbin on Derrick Favors, Jermey Evans and Hayward participating in All-Star competitions: "It's a tremendous reward for them to be a part of it and we look forward to having them be a part of the game on Sunday instead of the Saturday night game at some point in their career." ... Utah owes the Wolves a protected first-round draft choice this summer if it makes the playoffs. ... Barea's 22 were the most he's scored since scoring 21 against Oklahoma City on May 21 of last season.

Notebook: Timberwolves 100, Jazz 98

Posted Thursday February 23, 2012 12:26AM

By Phil Miller, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Luke Ridnour's one-handed floater at the buzzer capped Minnesota's rally from a 16-point deficit in the final nine minutes, and the Timberwolves (17-17) reached .500 at the All-Star break for the first time since 2005 with an improbable 100-98 victory over the Jazz in Minneapolis.

The Timberwolves, whose 17 victories already match last season's total, trailed Utah 83-67 with nine minutes to play. But J.J. Barea went 3-for-3 on 3-pointers in the final period, the Wolves held Utah without a basket for more than six minutes, and Minnesota outscored the Jazz 30-13 in the game's final eight minutes to win for the fourth time in five games.

Former Wolves center Al Jefferson, who scored 18 points with 11 rebounds in his lone visit to his former home this season, nailed an 18-footer with seven seconds to play to tie the game at 98-98. But it merely set up a heartbreaking finish for the Jazz, who have lost three straight games and eight of their last 10. Utah, which fell into last place in the Northwest Division at 15-17, was led by Paul Millsap's 25 points.

QUOTABLE: "Heck yeah, I hugged him. I just didn't want to play a five-minute overtime. It's been a long week."
-- Wolves forward Kevin Love, on Ridnour's game-winning floater at the buzzer.

THE STAT: 6:05 -- Fourth-quarter span without a basket for Utah, during which they went 0-for-7 from the field, including three missed layups, and were outscored 20-8

TURNING POINT: The Wolves trailed by 16 points with less than 10 minutes to play and appeared lifeless and spent. But coach Rick Adelman removed a couple of starters -- center Nikola Pekovic and point guard Ricky Rubio -- and told guard Barea to look for his shot, and the resulting energy turned the game around. Barea's 3-pointer with 7:45 to play sparked the offense, and the Wolves' interior defense tightened up noticeably, resulting in a decisive 30-13 Minnesota run over the final eight minutes.

QUOTABLE II: "To tell you the truth, I thought it was going in. It felt really good. I have to shoot floaters -- I can't get to the rim."
-- Ridnour, on his looping shot over Jefferson's reach on the game's final play.

HOT: With Raja Bell sidelined, Josh Howard was inserted into Utah's starting lineup for the second straight game, and he responded with perhaps his strongest game as a member of the Jazz. Howard sank eight of his first 11 shots in the game, including seven straight, and tied his season high with 19 points before fouling out in the game's final minute.

NOT: Minnesota's shooting was horrific in the first half; the Wolves missed 20 of their first 24 shots from the field, a 16.7 percent success rate that accounted for their early 16-point deficit. The Timberwolves' starting front line -- Wes Johnson (0-3), Love (2-9) and Pekovic (0-7) combined to make only 2-of-19 shots in the first half.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Wolves forward Love said he's tiring under the weight of all those minutes -- he leads the NBA with an average of 40.0 minutes per game -- and it showed on Wednesday. Love made only 3-of-14 field goals, took only one shot (it missed) and grabbed only one rebound in the fourth quarter, finishing with only 10 boards and a season-low 10 points.

GOOD MOVE: Hot-shooting Barea, who led Minnesota with 22 points and whose five 3-pointers tied his career high, was supposed to take the Wolves' final shot. But after taking the inbounds pass with seven seconds left in a tie game, Barea found himself double-teamed by Utah's defense 28 feet from the basket and unable to get to the hoop. Instead, Barea bounced a crosscourt pass to Ridnour, who took three steps before lofting a one-handed shot just inside the free-throw line for the game-winner.

BAD MOVE: Minnesota was unable to stop Millsap, who led all scorers with 25 points, but they didn't have to in the fourth quarter. Millsap took only three of Utah's 19 fourth-quarter shots, while the Jazz mostly settled for outside jumpers. The result was 36.8 percent shooting in the period, allowing the Timberwolves to rally.

ROOKIE WATCH: The 13 points scored by Derrick Williams, the second player selected in last June's draft, were two off his season-high, but never had the rookie made such a critical impact on an NBA game. Nine of Williams' points came in the final six minutes, he collected six rebounds in the fourth quarter including a putback that turned into a game-tying three-point play with 57 seconds left, and his free throws with 42 seconds remaining gave Minnesota its first lead since the game's first minute.

NOTABLE: Minnesota shot 38 free throws (and made 27) to Utah's 24, the 32nd straight game that a Jazz opponent has attempted more than Utah. ... The Jazz's first 20 points came on shots in the lane; only 7:23 remained in the game when Minnesota got its 20 point in the paint. Utah's 58 points in the paint were the most Minnesota has allowed all season. ... Minnesota committed twice as many turnovers as Utah, 18-9. ... Jazz guard Bell was inactive for the second straight game with a strained left adductor muscle.

UP NEXT: For the Jazz, Tuesday @ Sacramento, Feb. 29 vs. Rockets, March 2 vs. Heat. For the Timberwolves, Tuesday @ L.A. Clippers, Feb. 29 @ L.A. Lakers, March 1 @ Phoenix.

• Jazz: Bell
• Timberwolves: Lee, Randolph

• Jazz: --
• Timberwolves: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #10 Ron Garretson, #11 Derrick Collins, #76 Steven Anderson
• Attendance: 18776
• Duration: 2:17