Kevin Martin
had 27 points with some key baskets down the stretch, Kevin Love had
his usual double-double and the Minnesota Timberwolves snapped a
three-game losing streak with a 112-106 victory over the Dallas
Mavericks on Saturday night (Sunday, PHL time).
Martin made two free throws with just under 6 minutes left to put
Minnesota up 94-90. Ricky Rubio then had a steal that led to a long
fast-break jumper by Martin, who later beat the shot clock with a jumper
and then added a 3-pointer. That stretched the lead to 103-92, matching
its largest, with 3:12 left.
Love, who finished
with 21 points and 11 rebounds, also had a buzzer-beating shot. His
3-pointer with just under 2 minutes left made it 106-95.
All five starters scored in double figures for Minnesota, which had
lost five of its previous six games. Nikola Pekovic also had 21 points,
while Corey Brewer had 13 and Rubio 12.
Monta Ellis scored 26 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 23 for Dallas, which lost for the second night in a row.
The Mavericks lost 88-87 at Atlanta on Friday night after blowing a
17-point lead in the second half and losing starting point guard Jose
Calderon because of a bone bruise on his right ankle. Calderon didn't
play against the Timberwolves, and coach Rick Carlisle described him as
day to day.
Ellis put the Mavs up 66-64 Saturday
(Sunday, PHL time) when Shawn Marion rebounded a shot and passed out
for a 3-pointer. Ellis tipped in a miss by Marion to make it 68-64
midway through the third, though Dallas ended the quarter with the same
seven-point deficit it had at halftime after both teams scored 30 points
in the third.
That was also part of the
5-minute span when a bloodied Nowitzki came out of the game, even though
no foul was called when he got hit by Rubio in a scramble for the ball.
He never left the bench, getting treatment for the bleed near the
bridge of his nose.
The game was tied at 71 when
Nowitzki came back in with 3:50 left, and he almost immediately had an
assist on a go-ahead, 18-foot jumper by Ellis.
After J.J. Barea had a turnover on a bad pass, Nowitzki missed a
20-footer. Barea grabbed that rebound, leading to Love's tying short
turnaround bank shot before Brewer's 3 made it 76-73 and put Minnesota
ahead to stay.
Minnesota had a 52-41 lead when
Love rebounded a missed 3-pointer by rookie Gale Mekel and passed ahead
to Brewer for a breakaway layup with 2:10 left in the first half. Brewer
also had a 3-pointer in that 13-4 run that over 3 minutes.
Mekel, the rookie from Israel, made his first NBA start. He had six points on 3-of-12 shooting with seven assists. - AP