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Davis leads Timberwolves past Magic

Apr 2, 2007 - 3:44 AM ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) -- Ricky Davis almost took down the Orlando Magic all by himself.

Davis scored 36 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer, as the Minnesota Timberwolves handed the Orlando Magic a 105-104 overtime defeat.

The loss was especially disheartening for Orlando (34-40), which leads Indiana (32-41) by a 1 1/2 games for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

"It's frustrating," Orlando's Jameer Nelson said. "We had our opportunities tonight, but they hit some big shots. You've got to give them credit, they hit two, three, four big shots."

The Magic led, 98-92, with 1:27 remaining, but Davis knocked down a 3-pointer and moments later was fouled attempting another 3-pointer. Davis converted all three free throws to knot the game, 98-98, with 21 seconds left.

Nelson had a chance to win it for Orlando in regulation, but his jumper at the buzzer did not fall.

In the extra session, Orlando took a 104-102 lead when Grant Hill drove to the basket and drew a goaltending call against Kevin Garnett.

Minnesota took the lead for good with 11.5 seconds remaining as Garnett drew a crowd down low and kicked the ball out to an open Davis, who drilled another 3-pointer.

"It was a great night," Davis said. "(Coach Randy Wittman) kept calling my number and getting me the ball in great scoring position. I was shooting the ball great and guys were finding me."

In the closing seconds of overtime, Nelson drove to the hoop but his off-balance shot was swatted away by Garnett, who finished with 22 points.

"They trapped me," Nelson said of his final shot. "I threw to Darko (Milicic) and came back off and saw the bigs step up on me so I drove the ball. Kevin made a great play on the ball ... he came and got it. That's what he's supposed to do."

With the Timberwolves (31-42) unlikely to make the playoffs, Garnett said the team is finding other forms of motivation.

"Knowing that these guys probably needed this game to make the playoffs and with us having so much disappointment this year we wanted to spoil it for another team," he said.

Orlando, which is 0-3 in overtime games this season, received 23 points from Hill and 19 rebounds from Dwight Howard. Milicic and Trevor Ariza came off the bench to score 18 apiece.

"We've got to live with (the loss), we didn't close it out today. But we still have more games," Ariza said.