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For more on the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are surprisingly good and definitely competitive this season, but they're having a lot of trouble finding the consistency they need to really put themselves up near the top. They've got a star and a very promising rookie, and now they just need to tie it all together. Since a three-game winning streak in the middle of January, they've lost two, won two, and then went loss-win-loss over their last three. Their most recent outing was a 109-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers to kick off February.
They'll hope to have more luck on the road, where they've performed well this season, sitting above .500 at 5-4 in that regard. Still, they're 10-12 overall and need to start stringing together winning streaks again. Still, they've got a solid chance to win in their next outing, to improve to three-straight road wins if they're able to beat the New Jersey Nets on Friday.
Minnesota just can't get to .500 on the season. In situations where a win would put them at .500, they've failed to do so four times now. The Nets are doing pretty good of late, having won three of their last five games, including a 99-96 win over the Pistons in their last outing. Still, the Timberwolves are favored in this matchup, and with good reason.
For more on the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus. You can also head over to SB Nation's main NBA hub at SBNation.com/NBA.
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Timberwolves At Nets: Pekovic's Career Night Helps Minnesota Past New Jersey, 108-105
The Minnesota Timberwolves are turning into a regular group of road warriors this season, as they picked up another victory away from the Target Center on Friday night. The Wolves went into the Prudential Center and defeated the New Jersey Nets by a final score of 108-105. The victory was Minnesota's sixth away from home this season. For a team that managed just five road wins in each of the last two seasons (going 5-36 on the road in each campaign), it's a pretty significant step forward.
The Wolves got a big game from an unlikely source on Friday night, as second-year center Nikola Pekovic came off of the bench to pace the team with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Love chipped in with 20 points and rebounds, and Ricky Rubio put up yet another double-double with ten points and ten assists. Rubio also came up with six steals on the evening.
New Jersey can't blame this loss on Anthony Morrow, as he led all scorers with 42 points, including shooting 8-of-11 from behind the arc. Kris Humphries added 16 points and 9 rebounds for the Nets, and guard Deron Williams had 12 points and 14 assists.
Minnesota led after one period of this one by a score of 23-19, and opened that lead up to as much as fourteen points as a 13-1 run got the score to 36-22 with a little more than eight minutes remaining in the first half of play. After that, however, the Nets caught fire, answering with a 23-5 run of their own and, eventually, going into the break with a 50-49 lead.
The Wolves put together a strong third quarter, and took an 80-75 advantage into the fourth. The game was tied at 99 with 1:35 left to play when Rubio came up with one of those six steals and fed Luke Ridnour for a three-pointer that made the score 102-99. Williams turned it over, and Ridnour buried two free throws to extend the lead to 104-99.
Just when it looked like the Wolves had it in the bag, Morrow converted on a four-point play to make the score 104-103. J.J. Barea and Ridnour each hit two more from the charity stripe, sandwiched around a dunk from Humphries, to make the score 108-105, and Williams threw the ball away attempting a pass on New Jersey's final possession. Rubio grabbed the ball and simply lofted it downcourt as the time ran out, allowing the Wolves to escape with a victory.
That means the Timberwolves have a chance. . .again. . .to even their record at .500 when they return to the Target Center on Saturday night to host a Houston Rockets team that they defeated 120-108 just this past Monday. It will be the Wolves' fifth attempt of the year to even their record at .500, a mark the franchise hasn't seen since the second game of last season.
Feb 03 10:45p by Christopher Gates