Wolves record: 14-27
Stephen Litel/The Minnesota Score live-blogged the game
The Wolves trailed most of the night, but Randy Foye and Rodney Carney sparked a 37-point fourth quarter that carried Minnesota to a 116-108 win over the New Orleans Hornets and improved the Wolves’ record to 8-2 in January and 14-27 at the midway point of the season
Carney scored 12 of his 15 points in the final period, and Foye hit two big three-pointers in the final 2:05 as the Wolves survived seven threes by the Hornets’ James Posey to pull out a game they never would have won a month ago.
“Definitely not,” Foye said. “We would have got blown away four or five weeks ago. Now we’re starting to believe. We’re maturing overnight.”
The Hornets were playing without their two best interior defenders – Tyson Chandler and David West – and were left with only Melvin Ely and Ryan Bowen to defend one of the best young post players in the game.
If it sounds like a mismatch, it was.
Jefferson had 24 points and 14 rebounds and Minnesota controlled the paint in a 116-108 victory over the Hornets…
As part of their ongoing celebration marking the franchise’s 20th anniversary, the Timberwolves welcomed back PG Pooh Richardson, the franchise’s first draft pick in 1989.
Then Rodney Carney came to life. He went scoreless in the first half but ran off nine consecutive Wolves points from the final 30 seconds of the third quarter through the first 2:29 of the fourth. He finished with 15 points. Twelve came in the fourth quarter, including a crowd-lifting fast-break slam that showcased his speed.
“Rodney’s like a world-class sprinter,” Wolves coach Kevin McHale said. “There are times he wants to go it’s just phenomenal. He’s got a burst that not many people have. He gave us a huge lift.”
— Kevin Love played only 10 minutes through the first three quarters, and didn’t collect his first rebound until 10:44 in the fourth quarter. Love went on to grab five rebounds in the fourth alone, four of them on the offensive glass. He also finished with 11 points, one of seven Wolves in double-figures…
— Though Mike Miller struggled again from long range, he contributed in other important ways. Mike finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.
MVP: Randy Foye, Wolves
The guard’s clutch three-pointers in the final two minutes gave the Wolves a cushion, and he finished with 24 points to go with eight assists.