Kemba Walker leads Charlotte Bobcats to a confidence building victory over Minnesota Timberwolves – NBA Recap
The Charlotte Bobcats secured a hard earned confidence building victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night when they were able to hold off a fourth quarter run by the trailing Wolves and pick up an 89-87 win. The Bobcats, who are now 4-3 for the season, held the Wolves to only 14 points in the second period and then held off a final push by them in the fourth quarter, when the Wolves outscored them 34-20. Kemba Walker finished the game with 22 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, going 9 of 19 from the field. Ramon Sessions came off the bench to score a valuable 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Andrei Kirilenko led the Jazz in scoring with 26 points and 12 rebounds, going 9 of 12 from the field and 3 of 3 from three point range.
The Bobcats opened the game with a three pointer by Jeff Taylor, and a hook shot by Brendan Haywood later on had them leading 13-8. Minnesota kept close, and two free throws by Andrei Kirilenko had them trailing by 2. Walker then got into the game and scored the next six points for the Bobcats, putting them up 21-14. However, Kirilenko closed the period with a buzzer beating three pointer and the Wolves trailed the Bobcats 24-28.
Charlotte came out firing in the second period, going on a 12-3 run to open the period and took a 40-27 lead. Back to back points by Bismack Biyombo put the Cats up 47-33, and Taylor then hit a jump shot to close the period, putting the Bobcats up 51-38 going into the half time break. The Wolves lost their offence in the second period, scoring only 14 points in the 12 minutes.
Minnesota tried to come back in the third period, cutting into the Bobcats lead. A three pointer by Kirilenko followed by a tip shot by Luke Ridnour had the Cats lead down to 7. However, they lost track of their scoring again in the later part of the period, and were unable to score in the final 4:42 of the period. The Bobcats took advantage, ending the period on an 8-0 to extend their lead back to 69-53.
The Wolves opened the final period charged up, going on a 6-2 run to cut into the Bobcats lead. Walker made a three point play and followed with a three pointer to keep the Bobcats ahead 85-71, but the Wolves came back with a 10-0 to trail 81-85 and make the game interesting. A technical free throw by Ridnour had the Wolves trailing by one point with less than a minute to play, but Derrick Williams could only make one of two free throw attempts with 12.3 seconds left to tie the game at 87. Walker then hit a buzzer beating jump shot and the Bobcats escaped with the victory, despite having been outplayed 20-34 in the final period by the Wolves.
Byron Mullens finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds, and Tyrus Thomas added 10 points off the bench for the Bobcats. Ridnour had 16 points and 10 assists, Derrick Williams finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds, and Alexey Shved came off the bench to add 13 points for the Wolves. The Wolves outrebounded the Bobcats 53-43, but missed 17 of 37 free throws and shot 38.3 percent from the field.
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