L.A. Thrown by the ‘Wolves

Meanwhile, back in the Western Conference, the Lakers played another meaningless fourth quarter.

Only this time, it was they who finally, exhaustively, gave up hope, they who stood without expression before the hysterical crowd, and they who tried to shield themselves from the harm of the joyous chest-bumps and high-fives.

After four consecutive routs and six consecutive wins, the Lakers turned the muzzle on themselves Friday night, played uncaring defense and spit up crooked jumpers. Only too willing to accept, the Minnesota Timberwolves were 120-102 winners at Target Center, where Wally Szczerbiak scored 34 points and Kevin Garnett had 32, including 16 in a row for the Timberwolves in a 5:15 span of the first half.

The Timberwolves made more than half of their field-goal attempts, their first 30 free throws and had Laker-like leads of 15 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth.

The five-game trip concludes tonight in Chicago. The outcome there will decide their feelings about the eight-day journey through the Midwest, where they won the unofficial Central Division crown but were waxed good in Minnesota.

Kobe Bryant visited briefly with his former, reckless self, missing 18 of 29 attempts. He had 23 points and Shaquille O’Neal had 29, but the Lakers made 39.8% of their shots and were beaten by 14 on the boards. Bryant smiled and said, “Four-and-one ain’t bad.”

Assuming Chicago, that is.

Between here and there, they’ll have a lot of awful to chew on. Such as, their worst loss so far this season, the most points given up in 13 months, and the highest field-goal percentage given up (53.2) this season.

A jacked-up crowd that in the same winter lost a football coach and maybe a baseball team chanted “Wal-LEE!” for the brooding Szczerbiak and “MVP!” for the passionate Garnett. The Timberwolves (26-9) won their seventh consecutive game, all without starters Joe Smith and Terrell Brandon, and moved past San Antonio for first place in the Midwest Division.

“They were quick, they beat us to loose balls, they moved the ball well and they hit their shots,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “That was as good a game as we’ve had played against us this year.”

Garnett had 15 points in the second quarter and 23 at halftime. Szczerbiak had 20 points in the second half. Jackson ran handfuls of power forwards at Garnett, and Bryant, primarily, at Szczerbiak, and could not get the defensive stops to make a fourth-quarter run. The Lakers were within 91-86 with nearly 10 minutes left. Three minutes and eight Szczerbiak points later they were down 15, and done.

“That was all them tonight,” Laker forward Robert Horry said. “They just straight gave us an old-fashioned one.”

Typically this season Bryant has set up his teammates before wresting away the offense in the second half, a habit that has won him praise from Jackson and friendship from O’Neal. He was more aggressive early against the Timberwolves, however, causing Jackson to believe Bryant was caught up in Szczerbiak’s big start.

“I wasn’t pleased,” Jackson said. “I know Kobe won’t be pleased with his game, either. I felt Wally Szczerbiak got going early and he tried to match. Sometimes that takes the rest of us out of our game. That’s something that we haven’t done very often this year.”

The Laker deficit was 11 a minute into the second quarter, causing Bryant to try to force his game on the Timberwolves.

“If I was caught up with Wally, I would have gone right at him,” he said. “Somebody had to put points on the board, hold back the momentum.”

Late in the game, with Minnesota’s victory assured, Garnett blocked Bryant’s shot from behind, though a foul already had been called. Garnett, an emotive sort, snapped something to Bryant, and Bryant woofed back. The Timberwolves were on their way to scoring 44 points more than they did against the Lakers on Dec. 1, in a large loss at Staples Center, and Garnett felt it.

“Ah, just two guys having fun,” Bryant said. “But I look forward to coming back. What, February sometime? I’m really, really, really looking forward to it.”

By the postgame, the Lakers already were in 82-game survival mode, mostly respectful of the Timberwolves, but dubious too. Asked if he thought Rasho Nesterovic, the Timberwolves’ youthful center, had improved any, O’Neal said, “No. Just a lot of help from the referees. Just like every other bum center in this league.”

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