• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Big fourth quarter helps Timberwolves edge Pacers

Feb 4, 2009 - 5:43 AM INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Randy Foye led seven Minnesota players in double-figures with 19 points as the Timberwolves used a big fourth quarter to pull out a 116-111 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday.

Sebastian Telfair and Ryan Gomes scored 16 apiece and Kevin Love came off the bench to add 15 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota, which snapped a three-game slide.

Timberwolves center Al Jefferson, who entered the game seventh in the NBA in scoring at 23.2 points per game, was held in check and finished with 12 points on 6-of-13 shooting. He added 15 rebounds and two blocks.

"At one point in time, there were two, three guys on me - and with that many guys on me, somebody is open," Jefferson said. "I got to give props out to Indiana. They did a great job on me.

"When teams feel they have to do that to me, my teammates are going to step up. I have trust and confidence in my teammates to come and take over the game like they did tonight."

The Pacers took a 94-85 lead when Danny Granger completed a three-point play with 9:33 left in the fourth quarter before the Timberwolves stormed back. Love hit two free throws and seldom-used Brian Cardinal came off the bench to add a pair of free throws and a 27-foot 3-pointer.

Love capped the 9-0 spurt with a layup to knot the contest at 94-94. Indiana took its last lead on Mike Dunleavy's free throw with 3:27 remaining before Gomes drained a 3-pointer to give Minnesota the lead for good.

"In my opinion, the big difference was the run at the end and how they executed," Dunleavy said. "We concentrated on not letting Jefferson beat us, but we didn't control the others."

The Pacers had a chance at the end when Granger hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 112-109 and T.J. Ford stole the inbounds pass and was fouled. Ford split a pair of free throws before stealing another pass and being fouled - again splitting a pair - with 15 seconds left.

Telfair hit a pair of free throws before Granger missed a 3-point attempt that would have tied the game with five seconds left.

"We did the worst thing you can do, we held the ball," Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale said of the near collapse. "We were waiting for them to foul us and they weren't - they were trapping us. We need to just get the ball in and go."

Granger finished with 28 points - 19 in the second half - and Dunleavy chipped in 20 for Indiana, which has dropped two straight at home after winning the previous seven.

"If anything, we proved to ourselves we're never out of a basketball game," Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said. "I think our guys played with a great degree of tenacity and never gave up."

The Timberwolves scored 38 points in the final period on 10-of-19 shooting. They finished the game 42-of-86 (49 percent) from the floor and 21-of-22 from the free-throw line.