WEST FINALS GAME 5
T’wolves 98
Lakers 96
MINNEAPOLIS – There was no Sam Cassell. Lots of desperation, but no Sam Cassell. And no second chance for the Timberwolves. So coach Flip Saunders vowed to throw everything he could think of at the Lakers.
They threw Kevin Garnett, who was, in a word, spectacular. They threw Latrell Sprewell, who was explosive. They threw a stiff upper-lip-defense led by Trenton Hassell at Kobe Bryant, particularly in the second half. They threw a hustling game and with it a lead that stretched to 16 points in the fourth quarter. But then the Lakers charged and the partisan Target Center crowd worried. Big time.
So Fred Hoiberg threw a prayer that saved the day.
Hoiberg scored on an off-balanced mid-range jumper and drew a Bryant foul that led to a three-point play to quell a furious Laker rally with 2:29 left. That play, after Los Angeles had cut a 16-point deficit to six, served as the perfect complement to Garnett’s virtuoso 30-point, 19-rebound performance and Sprewell’s 28-point explosion as the T’wolves staved off elimination in the Western Conference Finals with a 98-96 victory, the first team to avoid a Laker closeout in 13 tries.
“What can you say about Freddy? He hit a shot that was huge. And we live another day,” said Saunders.
And now the T’wolves must do it all again tomorrow in L.A. in order to bring the series back here for a decisive Game 7. But there wouldn’t be a trip to the West Coast if Garnet wasn’t Garnett and Sprewell wasn’t Sprewell. The two were brilliant all game lifting the T’wolves, who again were without Cassel, out with an ailing back and hip. Garnett defended every position on the floor, including center when the T’wolves went small, and were able to limit Shaquille O’Neal to 17 points.
“With Sam being out it’s on our shoulders,” Sprewell said of himself and Garnett. “We’re going to ride Kevin. He’s the first option and I’m the second option. We have the momentum now a little bit.”
Said Garnett: “We knew we beat them by 20 here and it wasn’t by accident [in Game 2]. We’ve got to find a way to play consistent, to carry that energy on the road.”
The T’wolves seemed to have salted it away when Sprewell scored 11 straight Minnesota points to bring an 86-70 lead with just 6:09 remaining, but Bryant (23 points) and Karl Malone (17 points, 9 rebounds) combined on a 10-run to give the Lakers life. Along the way, Michael Olowokandi missed a wide open Minny dunk fueling the L.A. run.
Then Hoiberg (14 points) stepped up, shot and fell down. But to the Lakers, the game was lost long before.
“We came out with the energy but the end of the half wasn’t what we wanted and that gave them a lot of confidence for the second half,” said Bryant, whom the T’wolves trapped all over the floor. “They were very motivated, they were very aggressive and they made shots, timely shots. Our shots weren’t falling. But they will the next game. And then you have to rethink your defense.”