Jan 27, 2008 9:19 pm US/Central
Jefferson Lifts Wolves To 98-95 Win Over Nets
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
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Al Jefferson hit his free throws, and Richard Jefferson missed a short jumper on the other end to extend New Jersey's skid, its longest since November 2004.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Al Jefferson had a career-high 40 points and 19 rebounds, hit the go-ahead free throws with 11.4 seconds to go, and lifted the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 98-95 victory Sunday over the New Jersey Nets, who have lost nine in a row.
Richard Jefferson scored 35 points and Vince Carter added 25. But Carter attempted an ill-advised fallaway jumper with the Nets clinging to a 95-94 lead in the final 25 seconds.
Al Jefferson hit his free throws, and Richard Jefferson missed a short jumper on the other end to extend New Jersey's skid, its longest since November 2004.
It was a stunning turnaround for the improving Timberwolves, who trailed by 15 points with 11 minutes to go.
But rookie Corey Brewer came through with some surprising offense in the crunch, scoring all of his eight points in the final 8 minutes to give Al Jefferson some much-needed help.
Until that point, the big fella had carried the Wolves all by himself to keep them in the game. He scored 20 of the team's 38 first-half points and fought all five Nets on the boards all game long, grabbing 19 of the team's 40 boards for the game.
After losing 31 of their first 36 games, the young Timberwolves have now won three of their last four and also took Denver and Boston to the wire in this six-game stretch in which they have shown drastic improvement.
They looked to be on their way to their second straight loss when Carter hit a jumper to give New Jersey an 80-65 lead with 10 minutes to go. But unlike most of the season, the Wolves fought back.
Gerald Green hit two 3-pointers and Brewer got to the line for six key foul shots to help Jefferson complete the rally.
The Nets may have hit rock bottom.
They entered the game surrendering more than 110 points and losing by an average over 16 points a game during a miserable eight-game losing streak.
All the struggles created the inevitable trade rumors involving Jason Kidd, who said before the game that he expected such reports to surface during difficult times.
With that, the Nets limped into the Target Center to conclude a six-game, 10-day road trip, and still managed to be the aggressors from the start.
Richard Jefferson, Sean Williams and Josh Boone attacked the offensive glass, helping to rack up 17 personal fouls on the Timberwolves in the first half.
But they couldn't sustain that effort in the final 10 minutes of the game, too often settling for jumpers and missing key free throws, including two by Jason Collins with 56 seconds to go that would have given them a six-point lead.
Notes:@ Kidd made three straight 3-pointers in the final 4:45 of the third quarter to tie Allan Houston (1,305) for 12th in league history in career 3-pointers made.
Beatles fan? Veteran official Joey Crawford, long considered one of the grumpier referees in the business, showed a lighter side in the third quarter during a timeout, singing along to "I Saw Her Standing There."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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