Minnesota Timberwolves Bounce Back To Beat Boston Celtics 106-88
By Sarita Kelly
It seems that you can’t hold this season’s Minnesota Timberwolves down for very long. This was definitely the case Saturday night in their 106-88 victory over the Boston Celtics.
Nov 16, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin (23) attempts to get to the basket past Boston Celtics shooting guard MarShon Brooks (12) in the first half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Love scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Minnesota, while Nikola Pekovic scored 20 and grabbed 12 rebounds and Kevin Martin added 20 points and 6 rebounds.
The Wolves trio proved to be too much for Boston to overcome despite Avery Bradley scoring a season-high 27 points and Brandon Bass adding 15 of his own. But it is worth noting that no other Celtics player scored more than 10 points.
J.J. Barea came off the bench to score 13 points for the Timberwolves while Dante Cunningham finished with 12 points.
Minnesota was able to bounce back from a poor defensive performance in Friday’s loss at Denver. This victory also allowed the Timberwolves to go 3-2 in a stretch in which they played five games in seven days.
Their 7-4 start to the season is the second best in Timberwolves franchise history and Minnesota has scored at least 100 points in each of their victories.
Leading by only five at halftime, Minnesota took control of the game midway through the third quarter. Minnesota went on a 16-2 run when love made a pair of free throws with 5:30 to play in the third, the Timberwolves then led 75-57.
Love, who entered the game second in the league in both points-per-game and rebounds-per-game, continues his strong start to the season. His double-double was his 10th in 11 games this season and this was his ninth game in which he scored at minimum 20 points and got 10 rebounds.
The Celtics struggled to get much going offensively for much of the night. One night after scoring a career-high 26 points in a loss to Portland, Boston forward Jared Sullinger was held to three points.