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Wednesday, Mar. 22 7:00pm ET
T-Wolves improve road record to 19-14 | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
BOSTON (AP) -- Anthony Peeler upstaged teammate Kevin Garnett's career-high 40 points. Nobody on the Minnesota Timberwolves complained. Peeler's 3-pointer with two-tenths of a second left gave the Timberwolves a 109-106 win Wednesday night over the Boston Celtics as they improved their road record to 19-14, fourth best in the NBA.
"I was more excited about AP's (Peeler's shot)," said Garnett, who wasn't celebrating his 40-point night. "I'll take two points as long as we win." It was a tough defeat for the Celtics, who had won seven of their previous nine games. The biggest lead of the game was seven by Minnesota in the second quarter. Boston, with 14 games left, fell 2½ games behind Orlando, which beat Atlanta on Wednesday night, for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The loss ended the Celtics' five-game home winning streak. "We've got to go 11-3 or we're not going to make the playoffs," Boston coach Rick Pitino said. "It's going to be a very difficult task." Malik Sealy added 24 points, including two free throws that ended a five-point Timberwolves run and gave them a 106-103 lead with 18 seconds to go. He made all 13 of his free throws. Peeler scored 16. Paul Pierce led Boston with 25 points and Antoine Walker added 22. Pierce tied the game at 106 with a 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds remaining. Terrell Brandon then dribbled up court and passed to Peeler, who shot from the left corner as a stumbling Pierce ran toward him. "I was coming up, thinking about Paul Pierce's 3 and thinking I should have let him drive," Peeler said. "They all went to Terrell. I didn't think he saw me because there were three people in front of him. It was an awesome pass." And a big shot. "When it goes in, you're both happy and surprised," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "You can say a guy had 40, but this was a team win." Boston's only hope was slim -- tap the inbounds pass in for a 3-pointer. It disappeared when Garnett, who had 15 points in the fourth quarter, tipped the ball away from Walker. "He is a dominating basketball player because he is a very good passer and he is very long and he makes difficult shots," Pitino said of Garnett. "There is not anything he does not do." Garnett, whose previous high was 37, hit 16 of 23 shots with eight rebounds. It followed a 29-point, 14-rebound performance in an overtime win Tuesday night over Cleveland in which he went 12-for-16 from the field. "He makes good decisions," Saunders said. "He doesn't force too many shots." Trailing 101-97, Boston went on a 6-0 run. Walker tied the game with two free throws after missing his previous four, then put the Celtics ahead 103-101 with a driving layup with 1:01 to go. Garnett followed with a layup, was fouled by Tony Battie, and completed the three-point play. Pierce's jumper from the right corner had given the Celtics a 93-89 lead with 6:25 left. Then the Timberwolves scored the next eight points. They tied the game at 93 on Brandon's 14-footer and Garnett's two free throws. Steals set up Minnesota's next two baskets, dunks by Peeler and Garnett. The Celtics led 56-55 at halftime and the third quarter was a series of streaks -- 9-0 by Boston, 7-0 by Minnesota and 7-0 by Boston. When it was over, the Celtics led 85-80 as Battie made a three-point play with two-tenths of a second remaining.
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Minnesota Clubhouse Boston Clubhouse RECAPS Minnesota 109 Boston 106 AUDIO/VIDEO   A dejected Rick Pitino talks to reporters about tonight's game.wav: 149 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Kevin Garnett says the T'wolves are putting in the effort and it's paying off.wav: 96 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6   | |||||
