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Sunday, Mar. 19 8:00pm ET
Minnesota now 13 games over .500 | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Timberwolves have never been this good in the standings and rarely have they looked this good on the court, either. Rookie Wally Szczerbiak scored a career-high 27 points and Terrell Brandon had 28 points and 13 rebounds as the Wolves whipped the Milwaukee Bucks 109-82 Sunday night.
"Tonight was just one of those nights where everybody was hot. You rarely have nights like that," Malik Sealy said. "Terrell started off hot and Wally caught fire." The blowout put Minnesota 13 games above .500 for the first time in the team's 11-year history and followed a road trip in which they won three of four and beat powerful Portland. Ray Allen, who had another off night, said the only thing not going Minnesota's way right now is geography. "They have a great team, but they're overshadowed by the Western Conference," Allen said. "The West is dominant. When they get going, look out. You can't stop them." The Wolves (39-26) buried the Bucks, who have lost 15 of 20 and six straight on the road, with a 41-12 third-quarter blitz in which they shot 76 percent and got 14 points from Brandon and 13 from Szczerbiak. "That third quarter is about as good of team basketball as you're going to see played," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. The usually loquacious Kevin Garnett (17 points) refused to answer questions, funneling reporters to Szczerbiak's locker. "Wally Szczerbiak and Terrell Brandon played a hell of a game. They carried us. End of statement," Garnett said before leaving the locker room. Szczerbiak returned the endorsement: "This is a fun team to play for because it's so easy. Teams double up KG and he finds you open with the ball, and all you've got to do is shoot it." That's one thing Allen had trouble doing. Allen, Milwaukee's leading scorer, finished with 10 points on 2-for-16 shooting. He missed 29 of 36 shots over the weekend. Brandon's biggest plays came just before and just after halftime. Minnesota was up 48-46 when Bobby Jackson sank an 18-foot jumper with eight-tenths of a second left. Tim Thomas tried a bounce pass to Allen, but Brandon, standing in the lane, deflected it, grabbed it, spun and sank a jumper at the buzzer for a 52-46 lead at the break. "My arms are longer than people think," said Brandon, who hit a jumper and a 3-pointer in the first minute of the third quarter to make it 57-46 and the lead was never in single digits again. "I thought the big play at the end of the half, Bobby coming in getting two, Terrell getting the steal and hitting it, all of a sudden instead of it being a two-point lead, now it's at six," Saunders said. "Then, we come out and we establish ourselves knocking down a couple shots right away." Garnett's only basket of the third quarter made it 91-58 and capped a 43-8 run. Glenn Robinson led Milwaukee with 20 points. Allen, coming off a 5-of-20 shooting performance in a two-point loss at New Jersey, missed his first 13 shots before sinking a 3-pointer with 8:22 left that made it 97-65. "After last night, I was looking forward to today's game," Allen said. "Then, I had another terrible performance." Allen was hounded by Sealy and Anthony Peeler, who constantly altered his angle to the basket. But Allen's tumble is only part of the Bucks' collapse. "We're all in a slump, man," Danny Manning said. "We're running against the wind." The Bucks shot better than 60 percent until the final few minutes. "I don't know if it was bad defense or them shooting the lights out of it," Bucks coach George Karl said. "We got smashed." Game notesThe Wolves are 19-9 against sub-.500 teams, but seven of the nine losses have come at Target Center. ... Milwaukee's seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter delayed the blowout until after the half. ... Szczerbiak's previous high was 26 points, against Washington and Portland. ... Sam Mitchell played for the first time since missing 14 games with an ankle injury. He played the final five minutes. ... The Wolves had 35 assists, 20 more than the Bucks. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Milwaukee Clubhouse Minnesota Clubhouse RECAPS LA Lakers 92 New York 85
Minnesota 109
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