Atlanta Triumphs over Tired Timberwolves
February 4, 2009

With Atlanta’s all-star performer Joe Johnson at home with some undisclosed illness, forward Marvin Williams took charge with 23 points and 10 rebounds and led the Hawks to a 94-86 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

The Wolves were flat from the start. Meanwhile, Atlanta was shooting 51.5 percent in the first half and getting to the free-throw line 14 times, while Minnesota shot a wretched 31 percent and had only five free throw attempts. The Timberwolves’ starting five was six-for-29 (21 percent) in the first 17 minutes of the game.

To their credit, the Wolves came clawing back, even getting within two points of Atlanta at 86-84 on an Al Jefferson free throw with 1:04 left in the game. The Hawks followed with a three-point basket by Mike Bibby and a pair of free throws by reserve guard Flip Murray to seal the deal for Atlanta. Poor free throw shooting by the Hawks in the second half allowed Minnesota back in the game.

Since missing two games with a concussion in January, Williams is averaging 17.1 points and 8.4 rebounds. Bibby had 24 points and seven assists. Al Horford returned to the Atlanta lineup after a 12-game absence with a knee injury and had four points and six rebounds. For the Timberwolves, Jefferson had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and rookie Kevin Love chipped in with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Mike Miller scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter. Still, Sebastian Telfair was zero-for-nine from the floor and Randy Foye was four-for-19. Even Jefferson missed 10 of his 17 shots. Big Al appeared to be troubled by a pesky Atlanta zone defense that consistently fronted him

Minnesota had played (and defeated) Indiana the night before in Indianapolis, and player fatigue was evident. The Timberwolves entered the night with just three wins out of 13 in the second game of a back-to-back. In the past 30 days, coach Kevin McHale has shortened his bench significantly and, on Wednesday, showed no signs of lengthening it by using active-list players Calvin Booth, Jason Collins, and Mark Madsen.

One player who did escape McHale’s doghouse was Rashad McCants, who made his first appearance since January 7 in the third quarter after the Hawks extended their lead to 16 points with 3:19 left in the period. Just when Atlanta looked to run away with the win, McCants ignited the crowd of 13,745 with a blocked shot on Hawks’ guard Acie Law. It wasn’t enough, however, and in the end, Atlanta proved to be the stronger team, even without Johnson

The defeat resulted in the Wolves’ season record droping to 17-31. “We just couldn’t get anything going,” said McHale after the game.