The New York Times-20080128-Improving Timberwolves Keep the Nets Reeling

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Improving Timberwolves Keep the Nets Reeling

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After a painfully slow first half of the season, the signs of progress are coming quickly for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first year of their post-Kevin Garnett rebuilding plan.

The latest -- and most emphatic -- sign came Sunday against the Nets.

Al Jefferson had a career-high 40 points and made the go-ahead free throws with 11.4 seconds to go, lifting the Timberwolves to a 98-95 victory against the Nets (18-26), who have lost nine games in a row.

Twenty games ago, we would have lost the game tonight, Jefferson said of the Timberwolves (8-35), who trailed by 15 points with 10 minutes remaining. That just shows how much we've improved. We've stopped putting our heads down when teams make a run.

Richard Jefferson scored 35 points and Vince Carter added 25 for the Nets. But after Ryan Gomes made a 3-pointer to cut the Nets' lead to 95-94 with 40 seconds left, Carter attempted an ill-advised jumper in the final 25 seconds.

Al Jefferson made his free throws, and Richard Jefferson missed a jumper that extended the Nets' skid, their longest since November 2004.

Look, we have to be hungry, Nets Coach Lawrence Frank said. We have to be a desperate team for a win. We're in a position now where we have lost nine games in a row, and each one is going to be harder.

Carter and Richard Jefferson created matchup nightmares for the Timberwolves all game, and the Nets controlled play for much of the first 38 minutes.

The Minnesota rookie Corey Brewer came through with some surprising offense in the fourth quarter, scoring all of his 8 points in the final eight minutes to give Al Jefferson some help.

Jefferson scored 20 of the Timberwolves' 38 first-half points and battled all five Nets on the boards, grabbing 19 of his team's 40 rebounds.

After losing 31 of their first 36 games, the Timberwolves have won 3 of 4. They also took Denver and Boston to the wire in a six-game stretch.

They appeared to be on their way to their second consecutive loss when Carter made a jumper to give the Nets an 80-65 lead with 10 minutes remaining. But the Timberwolves fought back.

Man, it feels really good, Brewer said. We needed a win like that.

The Nets did not need a loss like this -- to a team with the worst record in the N.B.A. in a game they led for 45 minutes.

I think it is pretty much how things are going right now, forward Josh Boone said.