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Davis, Garnett help Timberwolves crush Warriors

Feb 8, 2007 - 5:16 AM MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Ricky Davis showed the Minnesota Timberwolves coaching staff he could respond after a bad performance.

Davis scored 26 points and Kevin Garnett posted his 16th career regular season triple-double as the Timberwolves matched their season high in points with a 121-93 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Mark Blount scored 22 points and Trenton Hassell added 13 and seven rebounds for Minnesota, which recovered from its own blowout loss (105-77) to Houston on Monday.

"We're definitely happy to get the W," Timberwolves rookie guard Randy Foye said. "But it's only one game so we have to keep it going."

After that game, Timberwolves interim coach Randy Wittman ripped his team publicly, focusing most of his ire on the Davis and backcourt mate Mike James.

Davis, who had only three points and six turnovers vs. the Rockets, shot 10-of-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from the arc against Golden State and turned it over just once.

The ninth-year pro also added four rebounds and four assists for the Timberwolves (23-26), who moved ahead of the Warriors for ninth place in the Western Conference, just one games behind the Los Angeles Clippers (24-25) and Denver Nuggets (23-24) for the final playoff spots in the West.

"We knew this was going to be a perimeter game," Wittman said. "Our guys took the challenge and did pretty good for the most part. Not only did we defend the ball, we also had good paint coverage."

Garnett scored 17 points, grabbed 15 boards and handed out 10 assists for Minnesota, which shot 51 percent (46-of-91) and has won four straight at home vs. Golden State.

"I don't take nothing for granted when it comes to the game," Garnett said. "Some of the people in this organization take some things for granted. I know how I have to prepare every night. I try to give 100 percent but I try to enjoy the game also."

Minnesota, which snapped a three-game losing streak, also had a season-high 38 assists.

"I understand basketball," Garnett added. "I understand that tonight Blount had the mismatch and when they rotate other guys, it's a matter of finding the open guys and forcing the ball to move."

Sarunas Jasikevicius scored a career high-tying 20 points and Stephen Jackson added 17 for the Warriors, who fell to 6-19 on the road, the third-worst mark in the NBA.

"I thought we were very poor defensively and on offense we were trying to do it on our own," Jasikevicius said. "And when the ball did move, we were not able to finish off our wide open looks."

Al Harrington added 13 points and nine rebounds for Golden State, which shot just 37 percent (37-of-100) from the floor.

"Well, I guess that was predictable," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "They are off a bad game coming back home, and we are at the end of a road trip. We thought the road trip was over and forgot to play the game."