LOS ANGELES, 19 February 2005 — Kevin Garnett got a huge lift from his bench before taking over down the stretch.
Reserve Wally Szczerbiak scored 26 points, while ailing Garnett had eight of his 20 in the final seven minutes to go along with 18 rebounds, as the Minnesota Timberwolves held off the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 94-88 on Thursday night.
Szczerbiak, along with Fred Hoiberg (13 points) and Eddie Griffin (nine points and 10 rebounds) led a charge of Timberwolves’ substitutes, who outscored their Cavaliers counterparts, 55-6, and out-rebounded them, 20-6.
Minnesota went into the All-Star break with a 27-27 record, and 2- 1 since Kevin McHale took over as head coach last weekend after firing Flip Saunders in an attempt to shake up the struggling squad. LeBron James had 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, but the 20-year-old phenomenon was helped to the locker room and treated for dehydration from a virus in the fourth quarter. He did, however return after missing just four minutes. James, however, is being reported as questionable for the Rookie Challenge contest yesterday night, which tips off All-Star Weekend, in Denver, Colorado, leading to tomorrow night’s All-Star Game.
While James was battling exhaustion, Garnett found the energy to step up down the stretch. The league’s reigning Most Valuable Player made a layup to knot the game at 81, before adding a jumper with 3:43 remaining to put the Timberwolves ahead for good, 83-81.
After Szczerbiak buried a jumper, James countered with two free throws at the other end, but Minnesota’s Latrell Sprewell made a put-back, pushing the lead to 87-83.
Griffin missed the second of two free throws but Garnett sliced in to grab the offensive rebound, resulting in two free throws by Szczerbiak for a 90-83 lead at the 1:27 mark.
A layup by James and Jeff McIniss’ free throw drew the Cavs within 90-86 with 1:08 remaining. But Garnett made a fade-away jumper with 49 seconds to go. After James made two free throws, Garnett threw a no-look pass to Griffin for a reverse layup to seal the win.
Elsewhere:
Mavericks 119 Suns 113: Michael Finley scored 25 of his season-tying high 33 points in the second half, and Josh Howard had a career-best 30, rallying the Mavericks from an 11-point deficit in a Western Conference shootout.
Dirk Nowitzki scored just 16 points on 5 of 15 shooting, but grabbed 16 rebounds for Dallas, which outscored Phoenix 36-26 in the final quarter to finish 4-0 on its tough road trip.
Amare Stoudemire had 31 points and 12 rebounds, Quentin Richardson scored 22 points, while former Maverick Steve Nash added 19 points and 11 assists for Phoenix (41-13) which finished the first half of the season one half-game behind San Antonio for the NBA’s best record.
