On a night that a lot of Minnesota Timberwolves fans wanted to see an older version of its former MVP, Kevin Garnett, they got the opposite on Friday. Garnett tallied a game-high 24 points and collected 10 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics rout Minnesota, 100-79, at the Target Center.
The Celtics outscored the T-Wolves 31-20 in the first quarter to take an early, commanding lead, and put away its host by nearly doubling them up, 21-12, in the fourth. Paul Pierce scored 21 points for Boston, which shot 49-percent from the field and held Minnesota just 35-percent.
Kevin Love scored a team-high 22 points and 11 rebounds for the T-Wolves, which had its playoff hopes take a hit as they dropped to 4 1/2 games behind eight-place Denver Nuggets.
Overall, Luke Ridnour scored 15 points and Derrick Williams 14.
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