Kevin Love drains 20 as Minnesota Timberwolves edge past Detroit Pistons 93-85 - NBA Recap
Despite trailing behind through the first three quarters, Minnesota Timberwolves held their nerves, and using a fourth quarter muscle, stole the victory from the jaws of Detroit Pistons to improve their record to 6-8.
Timberwolves got off to a sluggish start as most of their starting line-up failed to find baskets consistently. Only two out of starting five managed to produce decent tallies.
Kevin Love had a double-double with 20 points on 5 for 6 from the charity stripe and 17 rebounds while Wesley Johnson added 11 points.
With the other starters failing, Coach Rick Adelman called them to the bench and replaced them with the reserves who did a phenomenal job tonight and played a major role in the team’s win at the end.
Anthony Tolliver had 11 on 3 for 5 from the long range and 5 boards while Nikola Pekovic too finished with 11 on 4 for 6 from the floor.
Timberwolves struggled with the shooting and shot only 40% from the floor including 34.8% from outside the arc.
Tayshaun Prince marshalled the Pistons with a game high 29 points on 13-for-23 from inside the arc while Ben Gordon pounded 18. Greg Monroe had a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards whereas the reserve Rodney Stuckey netted 10 points in his 26:33
minutes on the court.
Pistons’ shooting was significantly better than their opponents (44.3%), from the floor; however they committed 19 turnovers in the game, which hurt them dearly.
Pistons ended the first frame with a 3 point lead 20-17 and then started the second frame with an 18-5 spurt, capped by Stuckey’s three pointer, to gain complete dominance, ahead by 38-22.
Timberwolves put up a resilient fight in the last few minutes of the first half, however despite that they found themselves behind by 6 points, 36-42, by the end.
An 11-4 run in the opening minutes of third frame again boosted the Pistons lead to double digits, 53-40. Pistons maintained the lead this time throughout the quarter and entered the deciding quarter with a 7 point lead.
Derrick Williams and Jose Barea fuelled a 7-0 burst in the first three minutes of the frame to make it anyone’s game as the scores got tied at 71 all. Next few minutes saw an intense fight as neither team allowed the opponent to get ahead. Scores were 79
all when Minnesota rattled an 11-4 deciding run to get command of the game, 91-83.
Pistons failed to make a comeback and only managed to score two more points until the end to complete an 8 point margin defeat.
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