The
Timberwolves snapped a 16-game road losing streak behind Ryan Gomes’
career-high 35 points and 11 rebounds Monday, beating the Golden State
Warriors 109-108.
 
"We were excited as you
could tell on the floor,” coach Randy Wittman said "It’s been a long
time coming, on the road especially. It’s been a trying season. … So
hey, maybe we’re growing a little bit. Tonight was the first night I
didn’t see the shyness of trying to make a play. We were aggressive all
the way to the end.”

 

 
"Man, it feels good," said point guard Sebastian Telfair, smiling in
his locker room chair after the game. "It feels so good to win I don’t
even need no Tylenol right now."
 
Pain? The Wolves had played well in Denver two nights before, to have
the game turn at the end, at least in part — they firmly believe —
because of questionable calls. But Monday, coach Randy Wittman said
there was no question his team had played its best games, back to back,
of the season.
 
 
 
Wolves record: 6-34
 
 
 
Some People’s Kids on tonight’s game  
 
 
 
 

With 54 seconds left in the game and Minnesota trailing by one after
leading by as many as 11 in the fourth, Gomes calmly nailed two free
throws with 54 seconds remaining. Davis missed a three-pointer at the
other end, before Marko Jaric’s wide-open look from three was just
long, giving Golden State the ball with six seconds left. 109-108,
Minnesota.
 

It was at that point that flashes of a Stephen Jackson three, Baron
Davis layup or Monta Ellis leaner flashed into the minds of Wolves fans
who’ve seen their team come so close so many times. On this California
afternoon, it was Davis who’d bring the ball up the floor, drive to the
hoop past Jaric, and float a layup attempt over the outstretched arms
of Jefferson, helping on the weak side. The ball just
came out, and Harrington, flying in on the opposite side, didn’t tip
the ball hard enough despite being wide open. Gomes grabbed the rock as
time expired, and the Wolves started hugging one another in exuberance.
 
 
 
 

“It finally feels good to get the win. We wanted to come in here and
compete at the highest level. We felt we should have beat them the last
two times we played them also. They were good games, but they were able
to pull away with it by causing turnovers and getting fast break
points. They still got a lot of that tonight, but in the 4th quarter we
were able to come together and make plays. We wanted to make sure we
came out here with a win. We wanted them to take challenging shots over
us. We need any win we can get. It feels good to get a win, but we are
not looking at how many road wins we have, we are just looking at the
total wins on the left side of the column.”
 
 
 
33/36 The Wolves’ scoring in the first and third quarters, which set and tied season highs, respectively.