Kevin Love helps Minnesota Timberwolves seal a dramatic 92-91 win over Philadelphia 76ers – NBA Recap
Courtesy of Kevin love’s clutch shooting Minnesota Timberwolves banked a dramatic, 92-91 victory over Philadelphia 76ers at the Target Centre on Sunday night.
Rookie of the month for January, Ricky Rubio was the highest scorer for Minnesota as he netted 22 and had 6 boards, while Kevin Love recorded a double-double with 20 points, 12 out of those were in the fourth quarter, and also
had 15 rebounds.
Centre Nikola Pekovic barely missed his double-double with 17 points and 9 boards. Jose Barea poured in 14 coming off the bench and guard Luke Ridnour recorded 10 points in Timberwolves 16th win of the season.
On the other hand, 4 players hit double figures for Sixers, with Jrue Holiday on the top with 20. Louis Williams and Andre Iguodala netted 13 a piece and Thaddeus Young had 10 points as Philadelphia extended their losing streak
to 3 games.
Sixers had an 8-3 start and further stretched their lead to 18-7 with a 6-0 run in the mid of opening frame. Minnesota replied with 10 unanswered points of their own, scratching off the lead to one with 03:07 left, but Philadelphia
were still leading by 18-17. Minnesota netted 5 and Sixers added another 6 points to end up the 1st quarter with 24-22 lead.
The game was close early in the 2nd frame as neither of the sides managed to pull a substantive lead.
With 09:28 left in the break and score tied at 28 each, the Sixers came up with an 8-2 run to take a 36-30 lead. The Sixers then pulled of a 7-2 run late to carry to 49-40. But, with a flurry of free throws from Rubio and Love,
Minnesota reduced the deficit to 49-44 at half time.
The Timberwolves opened the 3rd period on a 10-4 runto take a slender 54-53 lead. Sixers replied that with a 12-4 run and regained their lead 65-58 deep in the stanza, but the Timberwolves capped off the quarter with
an 12-7 run and as the game entered into its decisive quarter with Minnesota up at 74-72.
The last quarter belonged to Kevin Love, who netted 12 points in this frame. His two consecutive jump shots tied the game at 78 apiece and with the 3rd jumper in a row, he provided his team a 80-78 advantage.
Williams nullified that with a 3-pointer followed by a jump shot to make it 83-80 for Sixers midway.
Timberwolves responded with a 8-4 run placing themselves once again in the lead but the slender lead was taken away as Holiday banked a jumper and Philadelphia once gain got the advantage at 89-88.
Love however averted the defeat with his stupendous clutch shooting as he netted a bank shot and couple of freebies with only 1 second remaining in the game.
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