Timberwolves Deliver a King-Sized Punch

With their offense running quite smoothly Friday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves worked on their knockout punch.

Outscoring Sacramento by 20 in the third quarter, Minnesota won its sixth consecutive game, 114-94, over the Kings at Minneapolis.

“We made a push and kind of grabbed the game by the throat,” Coach Flip Saunders said. “Good teams do that. You start thinking like a boxer. Feel out where the weaknesses might be and turn up the heat on them.”

Kevin Garnett had 29 points and a team-record 24 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves. Wally Szczerbiak scored 28 points on 13-for-16 shooting for Minnesota, including 12 in a decisive third quarter in which the Timberwolves outscored the Kings, 34-14.

Chris Webber scored 26 points for Sacramento, which lost its second in a row. The Kings are 2-2 since Webber returned from a sprained ankle that kept him of Sacramento’s first 20 games.

Peja Stojakovic, Sacramento’s leading scorer at 22.9 points a game, did not play because of back spasms. Hedo Turkoglu had 25 points.

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Washington 96, New York 80--The one-two punch of Richard Hamilton and Michael Jordan knocked out the tired Knicks at Washington, giving the Wizards their fifth consecutive victory.

Hamilton scored 27 of his season-high 34 points in the first half, then Jordan took over with eight of his 19 points in the third quarter.

The Wizards will have to play without forward Christian Laettner for at least a month. Laettner, the only Wizard to start all 22 games, broke his left leg going for a rebound in the first quarter.

San Antonio 105, Phoenix 93--Tim Duncan had 11 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter, foiling the Suns’ attempts to rally, as the Spurs held on at Phoenix.

Duncan also had a season-high 19 rebounds for his NBA-leading 17th double-double.

Charles Smith scored 19 for the Spurs, who won their sixth in a row.

Rodney Rogers had 29 points--his high since joining the Suns--and 14 rebounds.

Boston 107, Chicago 101--Paul Pierce had 38 points and 12 rebounds, and Antoine Walker had 20 points at Boston as the Celtics gained their eighth victory in nine games.

The Celtics, who trailed much of the second half, used a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 93-86 lead. Pierce had eight points in the run.

Pierce had 17 fourth-quarter points for the Celtics, who have won eight of nine for the first time since March 31-April 17, 1995. The Celtics’ 13-7 start is their best since 1991-1992, Larry Bird’s last season as a player.

New Jersey 95, Miami 86--Kerry Kittles scored a season-high 27 points and Kenyon Martin had 25 to lead the Nets at Miami.

Kittles made 10 of 18 shots and Martin shot 12 of 19--including six dunks--as the Nets won for the fourth time in five games.

Miami equaled a season-high with 22 turnovers and dropped to 4-17.

The Heat are 2-3 since ending a 12-game losing skid.

Utah 93, Portland 85--Donyell Marshall scored 25 points and Karl Malone had 24 points and 13 rebounds at Salt Lake City as the Jazz won for the fifth time in six games.

Portland played without Bonzi Wells, who had swelling in his left knee after scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the Blazers’ 105-103 loss to Dallas on Tuesday.