Timberwolves Fall Short against Celtics
Sunday, February 6, 2005

The Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves were two teams traveling in opposite directions, each reaching the .500 mark at 24-24 on February 6 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. But the outlooks were very different among the coaches following Boston’s 103-100 win. Celtics coach expressed relief at the journey that has taken them to this point (with a record good enough to lead their division) while the game, Minnesota’s fifth straight loss, left Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders searching for answers.

The Timberwolves have struggled in matinee contests this year, and this game was even earlier than normal—a noon starting time to leave plenty of time for pre-Super Bowl revelry. Minnesota came out strong, taking a 8-0 lead, and demonstrated stamina, outscoring Boston by a point in the third quarter after four straight games of being outscored in that quarter.

The early game may have been more strenuous on Boston’s Gary Payton, who flew in on a red-eye flight after spending time with his mother, who is ill, on the west coast. Payton got beat twice by Sam Cassell in the opening two minutes, but from there Payton held his own, scoring 22 points and partially blocking Cassell’s three-point attempt in the final seconds of the game.

Another key matchup featured Wally Szczerbiak trying to stop Boston’s high-scoring forward Paul Pierce after Trenton Hassell got into foul trouble. Pierce had 15 points in the third quarter and 32 for the game. Szcerbiak noted that 15 of Pierce’s points came from the free-throw line, where Pierce had 16 attempts. “The referees give him a lot of calls,” Szczerbiak said. “The line is where he killed us.”

Kevin Garnett had a normal game for himself, coming close to his averages with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists, but the surprise in the starting lineup was center Michael Olowokandi, who had a season-high 21 points to go with 9 rebounds. Many of his rebounds came in the opening minutes as the Celtics missed 9 of their first 11 shots.

The Celtics missed a few key baskets down the stretch, including a layup by Pierce that would have upped Boston’s lead to five. Instead, they had to rely on defense in the final minutes, and Rivers praised his team’s efforts on the Minnesota’s last two possessions. While the first one resulted in a seven-foot jumper by Garnett to pull the Timberwolves to within a point, Boston forced the Timberwolves to work enough for the basket that there were only 10 seconds left in the game when Garnett connected. “Defensive stalling” is how Rivers characterized it, noting that holding on for as long as they did forced Minnesota to foul rather than play defense. The Timberwolves had to foul Pierce, who sank both free throws to give Boston a three-point lead.

Minnesota came down court, looking for a three-point attempt. But Boston switched on defense and denied Fred Hoiberg, who had a double screen, as well as Szczerbiak in the corner. Saunders said the play was set up to go to Szczerbiak and thought he was open. However, Sam Cassell ended up trying to create a shot with 1.9 seconds left. Payton got a hand on the ball (some of the Timberwolves thought he got more than just the ball), and the shot missed, ending Minnesota’s chances of ending its