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Tickets at Ticket Master
Flip Saunders' face was still cherry-red, and his tie was loosened. Kevin Garnett sat atop the trainer's table with his head against his forearms and one shoe off as he mustered enough energy to finish getting dressed. Sam Cassell sat 20 feet away, gingerly getting dressed.
In most instances, the Timberwolves would be more jubilant after pulling off
consecutive victories against two of the best teams in the NBA on back-to-back
nights. But they didn't have much energy to celebrate after their 88-87 victory
over the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Friday night.
That's because the Wolves made the victory much more difficult then it should have been.
The Wolves went 3 of 8 from the foul line in the final 31 seconds. According
to Saunders, Cassell made a "bad decision" by driving the lane and
having his shot blocked instead of running time off the clock with a minute
left. Then, Latrell Sprewell shot an airball while trying to miss a free throw
with 1.3 seconds left.
"That was definitely, definitely one of the weirdest minute-and-a-halves
I've ever played in an NBA game," said Garnett, who had 25 points and 13
rebounds. "It had ups and downs, twists and turns, all kinds of stuff."
The Wolves, who have won six consecutive games, appeared to have the game in
hand when they had a 12-point lead with a little less than five minutes remaining.
But that's when the twists and turns started. Wally Szczerbiak shot an airball
from the top of the key, and the Wolves missed five jumpers on their next six
possessions. Detroit, meanwhile, scored on nine of its next 12 possessions to
leave the Wolves with sweaty palms.
Even with the helter-skelter play, the Wolves appeared on their way to a victory.
They had an 85-81 lead with 31.6 seconds remaining when Cassell stepped to the
line. This is the same player who made 71 consecutive free throws, the sixth-longest
streak in NBA history, earlier this month.
Automatic, right? Wrong. The first free throw rolled around the rim before bouncing
out. The second hit the back of the rim. Detroit grabbed the rebound and called
timeout. Cassell, who had 16 points, took his mouthpiece out and swung his arms
in frustration and disbelief.
"I think my whole team was shocked," he said.
It got worse from there.
The Pistons scored on their next possession and immediately fouled Latrell Sprewell,
the Wolves' second-best free-throw shooter. Sprewell made 1 of 2. Detroit scored
to pull within 86-85 with 15.3 seconds left. Cassell yanked the ball away from
teammate Trenton Hassell on the out-of-bounds play and threw a pass to Mark
Madsen at the other end of the court. Instead of letting himself get fouled,
Madsen, who shoots 53 percent from the line, dribbled away from the basket and
threw a crosscourt bounce pass between two defenders to Sprewell.
"It was a great bounce pass," Saunders said. "He made a good
decision."
Sprewell passed to Cassell, who was fouled and redeemed himself by making both
free throws.
Ben Wallace scored on a tip-in to make it a one-point game again, and Sprewell
was fouled again with 1.3 seconds left. He missed the first free throw, and
the Wolves suddenly had a bench full of coaches.
Sprewell said he thought he was told to miss the next free throw on purpose
to kill the clock. Saunders actually told him to make it. Sprewell shot an high-arcing
free throw, hoping it would bounce high off the rim. The ball didn't hit anything,
giving the Pistons another opportunity. Darvin Ham threw a long inbounds pass,
but Fred Hoiberg stepped in and picked it off like a defensive back.
"I told him to listen to me next time," Saunders, grinning slightly,
said of Sprewell.