[St Paul Press] Wolves fail to capitalize on Foye's late scoring burst

Wolves fail to capitalize on Foye's late scoring burst
BY RICK ALONZO
Pioneer Press

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/basketball/16119510.htm

HOUSTON — There was no magical comeback in store Tuesday night.

The Timberwolves trailed by 11 points in the fourth quarter, rallied to tie the score late then watched the Rockets hit three three-pointers down the stretch and hand the Wolves an 82-75 loss at Toyota Center.

For a third consecutive game, the Wolves dug out of a big deficit behind rookie Randy Foye in the fourth quarter. Foye had only two points through three quarters then scored nine in the fourth. This comes after he combined for 25 points in the fourth quarter during his previous two games.

The Wolves' defense didn't stop the Rockets when it mattered most.

Houston shot 38 percent, a season low, but made big shots late against the Wolves' zone defense. The score was tied 68-68 with less than five minutes left when Houston's Shane Battier connected on two three-pointers from the corner and Rafer Alston made one to give the Rockets a 77-70 lead with 2:16 remaining.

"What you've got to do is make them go from the first option to their third or fourth option," Wolves forward Kevin Garnett said. Battier "made both of those with about six seconds left (on the shot clock). That's good defense. He don't make those, we win the game easily. But those are momentum shots, and we never recovered from it."

Houston's Yao Ming scored 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting to go with 10 rebounds. Foye and Garnett (25 points, 11 rebounds) were the only Minnesota players to score in double figures.

The Wolves couldn't find a way to get other players involved. Garnett aside, the four other Wolves starters combined for only 20 points, and the team committed 20 turnovers that led to 18 Rockets points.

"Not just myself but the coaching staff and the players, we've got to find a way to get Rick (Davis) and Mike James in a better flow," Garnett said. "We've got to get those guys going."

The Wolves finished their stretch of four games in five nights with a 2-2 record and are coming off back-to-back losses to Dallas and Houston. They don't play again until Friday, against the Denver Nuggets at Target Center.

The Wolves received a gift when Rockets star Tracy McGrady played most of the game with a bruised left side after he collided with James. He was knocked out of the game in the first half but started the second half. Even with McGrady banged up, Minnesota failed to capitalize.

McGrady, who scored eight points on 4-of-14 shooting, is the latest in a line of key players who have been hampered or sidelined in games against the Wolves, from Sacramento's Brad Miller to Orlando's Grant Hill to Cleveland's Larry Hughes. And yet, more often than not, Minnesota couldn't find a way to win.

McGrady scored only six of his eight points through three quarters on 3-for-13 shooting, and the Wolves were within 54-47 heading into the fourth quarter.

After falling behind 62-51 with 9:30 to play, the Wolves got a three-pointer from Foye, and a short shot by Craig Smith followed by a long jumper from Garnett for a 7-0 spurt. A Troy Hudson three-pointer tied the score 68-68 with 4:42 left.

Then Battier and Alston found holes in the Wolves' zone and that left Minnesota heading home with a loss, their second in two nights. The previous night, they trailed Dallas by 20 points in the third quarter and lost by six.

"We just have to start off the game better," Garnett said. "The positive thing we can take out of this is that we're pretty good in the fourth quarter, and now we have to find a way to get Ricky (Davis) and James going early in the game."

Davis and James combined for 11 points.

 

[Star Tribune] Long-range Rockets sink Wolves at end

Long-range Rockets sink Wolves at end
It was another night, another comeback attempt for Minnesota, but this time Houston was able to turn away a rally with some timely three-pointers.

http://www.startribune.com/511/story/841118.html

Timberwolves
Long-range Rockets sink Wolves at end

Wolves run out of time

Wolves: Arrival happens suddenly

Wolves 86, New Orleans 79

Rookies are unlikely to slip to D-League
HOUSTON - In terms of their bottom line, the Timberwolves' plot-twisting, heart-stopping, no-flipping, late-game dramatics hasn't been going so well lately: Three cardiac comebacks in their past three games, but only a 1-2 record.
In terms of some seriously hacked-off opposing head coaches, though, the Wolves haven't missed yet. What the Clippers' Mike Dunleavy dealt with in Minneapolis on Saturday and what Avery Johnson cold-sweated through in Dallas on Monday, Houston's Jeff Van Gundy got a load of in his team's 82-75 victory at the Toyota Center on Tuesday night.

Down (again) after three quarters, this time 54-47, the Wolves clawed back (again) to tie, this time 68-68 with 4 minutes, 42 seconds emaining. Everything Van Gundy and his staff had scouted on video -- rookie guard Randy Foye taking over, Minnesota running a 12-minute roundball version of football's two-minute drill -- was happening live before their eyes.

In another 24 hours, it would become a teaching opportunity, same as with Dunleavy and Johnson. As it took place, though, it was no fun and completely unacceptable. Van Gundy angrily called one time out, then another a few minutes later. Later, he tried to give credit, rather than lay blame.

"We didn't 'let them back in the game,' because that's the negative way to look at it," he said. "The more positive way to look at it is that they did some good things because they're pros and they're trying."

Trying like crazy lately. In the final quarter.

Down the hall, Wolves coach Dwane Casey was fielding irritating questions, too. Such as: Can't your team play the first three quarters the way it plays the fourth? And: What's so different about that fourth?

"Definitely our intensity level goes up," Casey said. "Attack mode goes up. We were getting into the paint, we were playing basketball. We were making smart decisions. I think that was the difference in the fourth quarter."

Unfortunately, the whole comeback strategy only works if the other team misses a series of increasingly desperate shots. And it absolutely fails if, instead of hitting two-pointers, that team catches fire in time to score repeatedly from three-point range.

Finding space against a Wolves zone defense that had been pretty helpful to that point, the Rockets nailed three consecutive shots from the arc to bust that 68-68 tie and cripple the comeback. Shane Battier hit twice from the right corner, first with Marko Jaric pestering him, next with Troy Hudson running over. Then Yao Ming passed out front to Rafer Alston, whose 26-footer made it 77-70.

The Wolves (6-8) got only one more basket after that.

"I can't tell you why," said Foye, who scored his team's first seven points in the rally. "In the fourth quarter, we're trying to execute and make a run, but sometimes it's too late."

Defensively, Minnesota was fine; Houston (10-4) shot 38 percent. Take away Yao (25 points, 10 rebounds) and the other Rockets were 19-of-64.

Offensively, however, the Wolves were a mess. Only Kevin Garnett (25 points, 11 boards) had reached double figures until Foye joined in with his last basket. They scored a season-low 31 points in the first half and got off 65 shots overall, another season low that can be traced directly to 20 turnovers and six offensive rebounds.