Kings Fire Up but Fall Short

Before Monday, it was debatable which team held the upper hand in the NBA’s “other” Western Conference semifinal playoff series.

Was it the Sacramento Kings, who had seized home-court advantage from the top-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves by splitting the first two games of the series last week at Minneapolis?

Or was it the Timberwolves, whose late rally Saturday night had given them an exhilarating victory while handing the Kings a heartbreaking Game 2 defeat?

There’s no question now.

Not after the Timberwolves, righting themselves in overtime after squandering a 15-point fourth-quarter lead, held off the Kings, 114-113, in Game 3 on Monday night in front of a sellout crowd of 17,317 in Arco Arena.

Unbeaten in three games at Sacramento this season, the Timberwolves turned the game in their favor with a big third quarter, making 62.5% of their shots and outscoring the Kings, 33-23.

But the Kings outscored them, 27-12, over the last 6:18 of the fourth quarter, making five three-point shots.

Kevin Garnett had 30 points and 15 rebounds for Minnesota, and Latrell Sprewell scored 25. Peja Stojakovic led Sacramento with 29 points, 22 coming in the fourth quarter and overtime. Doug Christie scored 24; Mike Bibby had 19 points and 10 assists.

Garnett, under double-team pressure, was called for traveling with 6.1 seconds left in overtime when he fell after catching an inbounds pass. Stojakovic, defended by Trenton Hassell, tried a three-point shot from the top of the circle. It was an airball, Sprewell rebounded and time expired.

“The other night they came back so quickly on us, within a minute and a half it went from 10 to three or one,” Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman said. “Tonight I thought we really had a great opportunity to win this game.

“I can talk all night about the last play, whether that’s a foul or not. I think it was. Obviously the official didn’t because he wasn’t going to stick around to answer any questions.”

Said Garnett: “These are dogfight kind of games and each team is very explosive. We’re doing what we can to try to get an edge.

“It doesn’t matter if you win by one or 30, a win is a win.”

As the series moved to California after the opening two games in Minnesota, the Kings still were trying to figure out how they’d let a 10-point lead slip away Saturday night in the final four minutes of their 94-89 loss.

“We had a chance to go up 2-0 and really have control of the series,” Adelman said. “We had control of that game and we let it get away.”

The Timberwolves, forever grateful, had happily taken advantage.

Said Sam Cassell, whose shooting had fueled the desperate rally that kept the Timberwolves from the brink of elimination and, they hoped, filled the Kings with doubt: “They gave that one to us, and those aren’t easy to get back.”

The Kings, of course, were determined not to wither again.

“That’s what the learning process is all about,” Christie said of the Kings’ Game 2 collapse, in which they missed their last eight shots and were outscored, 16-1, to end the game. “It’s supposed to sting, it’s supposed to hurt.

“You have to make plays down the stretch, period. Whether that’s free throws, rebounds, whatever it is.”

The Kings, perhaps fearing that somebody might actually walk out of the building without ear damage at game’s end, handed out maracas to fans, pumping up the volume in the NBA’s noisiest arena above its usually deafening level.

“The fans are going to get them into it,” Minnesota Coach Flip Saunders, speaking of the Kings, predicted before the game. “And once the game starts and they start playing, they’re not going to remember [Saturday night’s loss].”

Starting fast, the Kings jumped out to a 10-6 lead that looked like it was about to grow as Stojakovic, posted down low, maneuvered inside for a layup. Garnett, however, moved quickly across the lane and swatted it away.

At the other end, Garnett fed Ervin Johnson for a layup, starting a string of nine unanswered points for the Timberwolves, whose lead grew to 22-14 before the Kings rallied. At halftime, the score was tied, 46-46.