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Love, Pekovic power Timberwolves past Celtics

Nov 17, 2013 - 6:52 AM Minneapolis, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic each posted double-doubles to power the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 106-88 rout of the Boston Celtics.

Love had 23 points and Pekovic 20, with each player pulling down 12 boards. Kevin Martin contributed 20 points for the Timberwolves, who beat the Celtics for the second straight time after 11 straight defeats to Boston.

"We were just better tonight then we were last night. They pushed themselves through the fatigue and did enough to get a good win," Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said.

Avery Bradley scored 27 points and Vitor Faverani had nine points and 14 rebounds for the Celtics, losers of three in a row.

"Every time we made a run Pekovic stopped it. Every single time," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "We tried to put bodies on him. Jared (Sullinger) looked tired tonight and didn't play like he did last night."

Sullinger had 26 points and eight rebounds in Boston's 109-96 home loss to Portland Friday. On Saturday, he had three points and four boards.

Boston trailed by as many as 17 in the first half, but trimmed the margin to 55-50 at the break thanks to a 12-5 spurt to end the second quarter. Bradley's 3-pointer in the final second gave the Celtics momentum.

A jumper from Bradley early in the third quarter had the Celtics within 59-55, but Minnesota pulled away by scoring the next 11 points. Martin netted the final five of the run, and the difference later swelled to 89-70 going to the fourth.

The Celtics shot just 8-of-23 from the field in the third quarter, including 0-of-4 from 3-point range. That was part of a 5-of-18 overall effort from beyond the arc.

The Timberwolves were comfortably ahead in the final quarter and led by as many as 21 points.

Minnesota trailed by a 12-7 score early in the game, but gained control late in the opening quarter. J.J. Barea's layup in the final seconds provided a 33-24 lead after 12 minutes.

Game Notes

Barea had 13 points, one more than teammate Dante Cunningham ... Brandon Bass had 15 points and Jordan Crawford 10 for the Celtics ... Boston committed 22 turnovers, which led to 28 points for the Timberwolves ... The Celtics shot 39.5 percent from the field ... Courtney Lee (sore right wrist) and Keith Bogans (illness) sat out for the Celtics.