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Celtics hope to get back on track against Wolves

Nov 16, 2013 - 3:16 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Minnesota Timberwolves have lost two of their last three, but return home Saturday night to take on the Boston Celtics at Target Center.

The Wolves' two losses came on the road against respectable opponents, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Denver Nuggets. The Denver loss came Friday night, 117-113 and that was the most points allowed by Minnesota this season.

"Our rotations weren't there. We needed to help the helper, ball screen rotations, they were off all night but we were still right there at the end," said Kevin Love.

Love led the Wolves with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Martin was also stellar with 27 points and J.J. Barea added 21 points off the bench on 10- for-14 shooting.

Nikola Pekovic (14), Dante Cunningham (12) and Corey Brewer (11) all scored in double figures. Ricky Rubio scored zero points, but handed out 12 assists.

Head coach Rick Adelman shortened his bench on Friday. Only three Wolves came off the bench, so fatigue might be an issue when the Celtics came to town on Saturday.

Boston has struggled since a four-game winning streak. The C's dropped two in a row, both at home, with the most recent setback coming on Friday to the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Celtics lost all four quarters to the Blazers on Friday and ultimately fell, 109-96.

Jared Sullinger led the Celtics with a career-high 26 points. The Ohio State product shot 11-for-18 from the floor and 2-for-4 from long range in 36 minutes of action.

"Feels great, but at the same time we lost. That takes feeling great to not (feeling) awesome," said Sullinger, who is battling a bone bruise in his knee. "We have to keep playing hard and as a team."

Jeff Green (14) and Jordan Crawford (11) were the only other Boston players in double figures on Friday. Those two are starters, but the other three first-unit Celtics - Brandon Bass, Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley - combined for 14 points.

The Wolves snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Celtics on Apr. 1. That also halted a five-game home losing streak to Boston.