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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Terrell Brandon was awfully close to perfect,
and Damon Stoudamire was perfectly awful.
Brandon scored 28 points in his best playoff performance and
shut down his boyhood pal from Portland as the Minnesota
Timberwolves staved off elimination with a 94-87 victory over the
Trail Blazers on Sunday.
|  | | Scottie Pippen (33) takes Malik Sealy to the basket early. |
"No matter who wins, our neighborhood wins," Brandon said
after the Wolves pulled to 2-1 in the best-of-five series. "This
is something we'll talk about for years after the season is done."
Maybe Brandon will, but Stoudamire, who scored just two points
would just as soon forget his worst career performance, postseason
or otherwise.
"To sum it all up, I stunk up the place," Stoudamire said.
"By all rights, they should have thrown me out of here. But I'll
tell you what, I won't stink it up again."
Game 4 is Tuesday night at Target Center, and Kevin Garnett said
the Wolves are counting on a repeat performance.
"We have no choice but to do this again," he said.
Otherwise, the Wolves will be rendered first-round fodder for
the fourth straight season.
"Now we have a series," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. "Now
each team has taken care of its home court and we need to do it one
more time."
While Stoudamire was 0-for-8 from the field with one rebound and
as many assists (six) as fouls, Brandon came within three rebounds
of joining Garnett with a triple-double.
He was 10-of-16 from the field, 6-of-6 from the line and had
just one turnover while playing every second of the intense game.
"I didn't play tough because this was Portland," Brandon said.
"This was do or die. I'll take another 48 if that's what Flip and
the team needs me to do."
Scottie Pippen, who scored just 16 points after getting 28 and
21 in Portland, said what Brandon did shouldn't surprise anyone.
"He's one of the top point guards. They're very patient
offensively and he's a great leader," Pippen said. "It doesn't
hurt to have K.G. on your team, either."
Garnett, who has just two triple-doubles in five NBA seasons,
had his second triple-double in a week with 23 points, 12 rebounds
and 10 assists.
"We've been in both games before this," Garnett said of the
Wolves' three- and four-point losses at Portland last week. "It does a
lot for our confidence. This was a must-win and we came in and
won."
Brandon not only handled Stoudamire, who is three years younger,
but also his feisty backup, Greg Anthony, who logged 20 minutes.
"It takes a lot of energy to have to guard Damon because he's
faster than me," Brandon said. "Then, Greg comes in and guards me
fullcourt and that takes more energy."
But Brandon never backed down.
"He played an excellent game," Stoudamire said. "I said at
the beginning of the series, if he played good for them, they'd win
this series."
That's still a long shot, even if Brandon can reproduce one of
the finest all-round playoff performances recorded by a point
guard.
Only four teams have overcome 2-0 deficits since 1984, when the
league adopted the best-of-five format for the first round of the
playoffs.
Playing just their second home game in three weeks, the Wolves
did what they couldn't do in Portland: stifle Pippen and execute
down the stretch.
Steve Smith scored 22 for the Blazers, who hit their first 17
free throws. When they finally missed, Brian Grant got his own
rebound with a chance for Portland to cut its 80-77 deficit.
But Grant committed an offensive foul with just under five
minutes left and the Blazers never had a better chance to catch up.
Joe Smith made two free throws and Anthony Peeler (13 points) stole
the ball and scored on the break for an 84-77 lead.
Arvydas Sabonis hit a wide-open 3-pointer to cut it to 84-80
with 3:18 left, but the Blazers could get no closer and Brandon hit
all six of his free throws in the final 28 seconds.
Sabonis finished with 17 points and Rasheed Wallace had 15.
Portland trailed by seven at halftime but tied it at 68 heading
into the fourth quarter behind 10 points from Pippen and eight from
Sabonis, each of whom had a quiet first half.
The 10th sellout crowd of the season provided a much-needed
boost for the Wolves, who hadn't played but one home game since
April 10.
"This crowd is bananas," Garnett said. "It's like a fruit
basket -- bananas, coconuts, couple of sour grapes. This crowd has
always been something special.
"I wish you could all be me and feel it."
Game notes
The Wolves immediately began selling the 4,000 available
tickets for Tuesday night's game. ... The teams combined for just
13 turnovers, tying an NBA playoff record set by Detroit and Boston
on May 9, 1991. ... Minnesota established new playoff highs in
field goal accuracy (53.5 percent) and three-point accuracy (60
percent). Their six 3-pointers doubled their output from Games 1
and 2.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Portland Clubhouse
Minnesota Clubhouse
RECAPS
New York 87
Toronto 80
Minnesota 94
Portland 87
Sacramento 99
LA Lakers 91
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Terrell Brandon says Sunday's game was do or die for the Timberwolves.
wav: 86 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Scottie Pippen feels the Blazers shot themselves in the foot on Sunday.
wav: 141 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Kevin Garnett explains the Minnesota crowd
wav: 112 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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