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Sun, March 18, 2007
Lakers 109 vs. Timberwolves 102 - 03/18/07
Now it's not just the road that's hard, it's the steep grades the Minnesota Timberwolves keep creating for themselves.
Don't be misled by the final score of the Wolves' 109-102 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night at Staples Center. Don't be distracted by Kobe Bryant's electric 50 points -- be entertained, be impressed but not distracted -- because the Wolves took themselves out of this game early and never overcame it.
When a team can put together a 19-4 run to start the final quarter and still trail by four, the reasons for any defeat obviously were seeded much earlier. As strong as Bryant was at the finish, scoring 10 of the Lakers' final 16 points for his fifth game of 50 points or more this season and 15th in his career, it was what happened in the game's first 36 minutes that stuck Minnesota with its 10th consecutive road loss.
"It really starts at the start," said Randy Wittman, coach of a club that has dropped 14 of its past 15 away from Target Center -- and still has three left on his trip. "Lately we've been digging ourselves into too big of holes. . . . You dig eight-, 10-point deficits the first three or four minutes of the game, you're fighting an uphill battle. And it happened again to start the third (quarter)."
Nine days ago at Atlanta, the Wolves (28-37) were down 20-12 in the first quarter. At Golden State on Friday, it was 21-13. This time, they were outscored 16-8 through five minutes and 27-10 through barely eight. Then they tried to play catch-up against a team with the game's most dangerous offensive weapon (Bryant, fresh from dropping 65 on Portland on Friday) and a far healthier cast (Lamar Odom, Luke Walton) than the Lakers had at Target Center on March 6 in a 117-107 Wolves double-overtime victory.
"Down the stretch," forward Kevin Garnett said, "we weren't able to make stops and little small things."
Garnett scored 26 points and Davis had 22 of his in the second half.
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