Hornets Sting Wolves for Last-Second Victory
Jonah BallowWolves Editor/Writer
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After holding an 11-point edge at halftime, New Orleans stormed back to defeat Minnesota 97-96 for the second time in six days. Chris Paul connected on a layup with 3.9 second remaining on the game clock to seal the win and improve the Hornets to 10-11 on the season.
Minnesota grabbed a 96-95 advantage following Al Jefferson's free throw at the two minute mark of the fourth quarter. While both teams experienced empty possessions in the waning minutes, New Orleans was presented with an opportunity to win the game with 5.9 seconds left in the contest. James Posey inbound the ball to Paul, who set a down screen on Ryan Gomes, forcing the Wolves to switch their defensive assignments. Gomes made the intelligent decision to quickly foul Paul as Minnesota had the foul to give.
Hornets head coach Jeff Bower signaled for another timeout with the clock now showing 3.9 seconds; his team searching for its third straight victory. On this final chance for New Orleans, Paul took the ball out of bounce, passed to David West and then bolted towards the paint. The All-Star point guard shook Jonny Flynn and Wilkins to reach the basket for the go-ahead layup en route to 15 points in the victory.
"Damien [Wilkins] should know better," Rambis said. "So often, the man taking the ball out of bounds is the most dangerous man. We were supposed to be switching between both those situations so that you always have players going away from the basket; you don't want players toward the basket. If anything, they should be settling for long shots that take them away. We don't care if someone's going away from the basket; we just don't want somebody making a basket cut."
"Our offense got sloppy, we were turning the basketball over, we stopped getting the ball inside which was so productive for us in the first half, and then everything went downhill from there," Rambis said.
The somber feeling inside the locker room was the complete opposite emotion from the first half of action. Minnesota closed the second quarter on a 12-5 run to take a 64-53 lead and produce one of the most efficient offensive performances of the season. Led by Jonny Flynn's terrific court vision, the Wolves ran the floor, hitting 64.4 percent from the field. Flynn dished out seven of his nine assists in the first 24 minutes. Fans at the Target Center were treated to several highlight reel dunks courtesy of Ryan Hollins and fast break finishes from Corey Brewer.
Minnesota was effective in the post with Al Jefferson scoring 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting. The team dominated the painted area by outscoring New Orleans 52-30 to successfully execute the pregame gameplan.
Kevin Love recorded his third double-double (12 points and 11 rebounds) in only four games since returning to the lineup on December 2. The frontline also received a boost from the dependable Ryan Gomes, who finished with 21 points to lead the team in scoring.
"A lot of your lessons are painful. As long as a player is receptive, as long as a player continues to work hard--which he does--he's going to learn from these mistakes and they're going to be valuable learning experiences. They hurt, they sting, but you learn from them," Rambis said.
Minnesota jumped on a plane directly after the contest for a west coast road trip. The first stop will take place in Los Angeles where the Lakers plan to present Rambis with his championship ring from last season. After the Wolves square off against Los Angeles, the team heads to Sacramento on Saturday night.
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