Wolves record: 14-44

Road wins come so few and far between for the Minnesota Timberwolves these days that they weren’t about to apologize for getting one against a Miami Heat team missing star Dwyane Wade.

Kevin Love had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Minnesota took advantage of Wade’s absence for just their fifth road win of the season, 91-88, over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.

Flynn added 16 points and three steals for the Timberwolves, who snapped a six-game losing streak. They had won just once in their previous 13 games away from Target Center.

Timberwolves rookie guard Wayne Ellington (12 points) went to the free-throw line with 1.1 seconds left to seal the 91-88 victory. That was after rookie guard Jonny Flynn (16 points) missed a mid-range jumper. But Love (17 points, 12 rebounds) tapped it and Ryan Gomes (13 points, eight rebounds) chased it down. The Timberwolves called a timeout and Rambis drew up an inbounds play for the final 1.7 seconds, which led to Ellington’s free throws.

As for the big guys, Jefferson (10 points, 11 rebounds), Love and Milicic (four points, two rebounds, three blocks in 24 minutes) performed effectively. Their size — Jefferson is 6-foot-10, Love is 6-foot-10 and Milicic is a 7-footer — came in handy to crush the Heat on the boards, 47-36, and generally made life difficult for Miami around the rim.

Milicic followed Sunday’s surprising 19-minute performance by playing 24 1/2 minutes, including all but 1:04 of a final quarter in which the Wolves led by 10 points with little more than three minutes left and then hung on tightly until the final horn.

As he did on Sunday, Milicic again was on the floor for the final minutes while Jefferson watched.

“It’s huge, obviously,” Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said, referring both to Milicic’s 7-foot size and his defensive presence. “We’ve talked all season long about how small we are as a ballclub. He just adds a dimension we don’t have. Darko really has a defensive mindset. That’s who he is as a basketball player.