http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/basketball/13265750.htm
The Timberwolves hadn't won a road game. The Cleveland Cavaliers hadn't lost
at home.
Those facts didn't matter Saturday night.
The Wolves won their first road game of the season in five tries, beating the
Cavaliers 89-85 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Ending that streak of futility in Cleveland was a tough task for the Wolves.
They overcame 38 points by Cavaliers star LeBron James, his season high, as
Kevin Garnett scored 26 and reserve Troy Hudson added 18.
The Cavaliers were 6-0 at home and had won those games by a combined 123
points. The Wolves broke through by surviving a game that was close throughout.
The Wolves shot 49.3 percent and held the Cavaliers to 31.8 percent. They gave
up 21 offensive rebounds, committed 16 turnovers and still managed to win.
"I'm so happy for Case," forward Wally Szczerbiak said of first-year Wolves
coach Dwane Casey. "The team's really on a high, and we're going to enjoy this
one. We felt we could have had a bunch more. It's a weird way to get a win.
A whole bunch of crazy stuff going on. But the bottom line is we won by four."
Szczerbiak had 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
With the score tied at 82, Garnett got the ball with two seconds remaining on
the shot clock and made a 21-foot jump shot over Drew Gooden with 56.9 seconds
left.
Cleveland's Donyell Marshall missed a jumper from the corner with 40 seconds
left, and the Wolves rebounded the miss.
Then Marko Jaric made a 19-footer from the corner with 15.9 seconds remaining
to put the Wolves ahead 86-82. Jaric had a relatively quiet game offensively,
with just six points before that shot.
After a Cleveland timeout, Damon Jones missed a three-pointer and Marshall
committed a foul trying to corral the offensive rebound.
Hudson made one of two free throws and added two more free throws late to seal
the victory.
"I came in in the first half, and I really didn't see any opportunities to be
creative and score, so I was just waiting for my opportunity," said Hudson,
who scored all of his points in the second half. "I knew I was going to have
a chance to do something for my team in the second half."
Hudson scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.
"Troy Hudson was terrific," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "I thought he hit
some tough shots with a hand in his face."
Trenton Hassell and Jaric split defensive duties on James. Hassell is known
for his strong on-the-ball defense, but James' size and strength were too
much for Hassell.
James had 19 points in the first half on 6-of-11 shooting. Then he added 11
points in the third quarter, including a high-flying dunk over Eddie Griffin
that left the crowd buzzing.
But in the fourth quarter, James made just 3 of 11 shots with Jaric guarding
him more.
For the most part, the Wolves have been competitive on the road. Their first
two road games this season resulted in overtime losses at Seattle and Los
Angeles (against the Clippers).
There was a one-sided loss in Denver, where the Wolves didn't play hard, and
last week in New Orleans they blew an 18-point first-half lead.
Saturday night's performance fell into the category of the majority of the
road games. The Wolves have had chances to win, and this time they capitalized.
One obstacle was that the Cavaliers had a big edge at the foul line. The
Cavaliers made all of their 11 free throws in the first half and 22 of 24 in
the game. The Wolves made 15 of 20.
At halftime, the Wolves trailed 42-37. It didn't help that they committed 11
turnovers in the half.
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