[外電] Garnett's fade accompli
http://www.twincities.com/timberwolves/ci_5520768
Hard to say which scenario seemed more remote Sunday afternoon: forecasting a
fourth-quarter Timberwolves comeback against the Portland Trail Blazers or
heeding tornado warnings in March.
Yet there was Kevin Garnett rescuing the Wolves from disaster by bringing the
thunder of a buzzer-beating jump shot to vanquish Portland 94-93 and whip the
sheltered crowd of 16,273 into a frenzy.
Trailing by five points with 2? minutes remaining, the Wolves staged a
remarkable rally with ferocious defense from Ricky Davis and clutch shooting
by Garnett and rookie Randy Foye to salvage some dignity at home after a
dreadful 1-4 West Coast road trip.
A back-and-forth game boiled down a handful of late possessions that had
Portland poised for victory on two occasions only to have it slip away in the
dying seconds.
Garnett's traveling violation with 20.2 seconds remaining was Minnesota's
14th turnover and led to LaMarcus Aldridge's tip that gave the Trail Blazers
a 93-92 lead with 8.4 seconds left.
Portland deflected away Trenton Hassell's first in-bounds pass to Davis
before the Wolves called another timeout to set up a last gasp with 2.2
seconds left. Garnett peeled away from a multi-body pile-up in the paint to
receive Hassell's pass.
With defenders Brandon Roy and Ime Udoka in his face, Garnett caught the
ball, turned to dribble once before launching a 15-foot fade-away that
creased the net. The shot was reminiscent of Garnett's 15-foot overtime
winner at the buzzer to beat Philadelphia at Target Center on Jan. 5.
"I anticipated that being about two seconds, counting in my head," Garnett
said of his fourth career buzzer beater Sunday. "I saw one of their players
there, so I didn't know if I was going to have the chance to put it down, but
it actually helped my rhythm a little bit.
"I just got my head up and let it go."
Portland coach Nate McMillan said his team could not have defended the play
any better.
"I was behind it, and it looked good. I had two guys around him, and he fades
away. He made a tough shot," he said.
Garnett's basket finished off a 10-4 run fueled by Randy Foye's clutch
shooting off the bench. He drained a pair of free throws to go with two
layups and a driving dunk to punctuate an eight-point explosion in the final
3:02.
More important was Davis' defense against Roy, who finished with 22 points.
Twice in the last two minutes Davis stole the ball from the rookie guard,
leading to four of Foye's points while energizing the Wolves' bench and the
crowd.
"Ricky was huge. His defense ignited us," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said.
"He started the whole thing of getting us back in it without scoring a
basket."
Davis finished with 15 points, five defensive rebounds, two steals and one
block.
"(I) was trying to make it difficult for him to come off screens," he said
about defending Roy. "My team helped me most of all. If it wasn't for my
team, I don't think I would be able to play defense like that."
Garnett led the Wolves with 22 points, but he wasn't a factor until the final
minutes. Foye scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Besides numbing the pain from their miserable trip, the Wolves avenged two
gut-wrenching losses to Portland earlier this season.
Juan Dixon's three-pointer with 6.2 seconds remaining sealed an 88-86 victory
in Minnesota's third game on Nov. 4. In Wittman's head coaching debut Jan. 24
at Portland, Aldridge hit a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds left to
force overtime, where the Trail Blazers emerged victorious.
"The last two games in their place ended exactly like this," Wittman said.
"We deserved this game."
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