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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Sacramento Kings received
fourth-quarter heroics from an unlikely source: Jason Williams.
|  | | Jason Williams of Sacramento drives the baseline past Minnesota's Chauncey Billups. |
Williams scored four points in the final 51 seconds, including
the go-ahead basket as the Kings rallied for a 100-97 victory over
the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
Williams, who in some games has not left the bench in the fourth
quarter, beat Terrell Brandon along the baseline and scored on a
driving layup to put the Kings ahead 98-97 with 20 seconds left.
Williams, who had eight points and seven assists, scored from
close range, pulling the Kings to 97-96 with 51 seconds
left.
"Jason made a great move on that second basket. They were
expecting him to do a pick-and-roll and he went baseline," Kings
coach Rick Adelman said. "That's the type of thing he needs to do.
He did a great job in those two possessions and scored."
The Kings used solid defense in the final minute to preserve the
victory.
Doug Christie protected the Kings' one-point lead by stealing an
errant pass from Wally Szczerbiak. He was fouled with 1.5 seconds
left and made two free throws to give Sacramento a 100-97 lead.
A 3-point attempt at the buzzer by Kevin Garnett was blocked by
Christie as the Kings came away with the victory, moving to 15-3 at
home this season.
"The ball came my way the last 10 seconds and I pretty much
chocked it," said Szczerbiak, who had 21 points and nine rebounds.
"There's no excuse not to get a shot up in that situation."
The Kings had played three consecutive overtime games at home,
losing two of them.
"If we had gone overtime that would have been OK with me, as
long as we got the win," Williams said.
Peja Stojakovic led the Kings with 24 points and also had nine
rebounds. Chris Webber had 21 points and nine rebounds for
Sacramento, which had lost four in a row and nine of 11 to the
Timberwolves. Vlade Divac had 12 points and nine rebounds and
Christie also had 12 points.
Garnett, who had a combined 24 points in the previous two games,
had 26 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Terrell Brandon
added 20 points and 13 assists and Anthony Peeler added 12 points.
With the shot-clock running down, Garnett made a 3-pointer,
giving Minnesota its first lead since the second quarter.
Szczerbiak followed with two free throws, putting the
Timberwolves ahead 97-94 with 1:03 remaining.
"I think we ran out of gas down the stretch due to the pace,
but I can't fault our effort," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said.
"We didn't make plays offensively and that gave Sacramento's
defense confidence that carried over to their offense."
Following a high-scoring first half, both teams cooled off in
the third period. Webber and Stojakovic each had six points as
Sacramento took an 80-77 lead into the final quarter.
Stojakovic scored 16 points, Webber had 13 and Divac made all
five shots and had 11 as the Kings took a 61-57 lead into the break
after an uptempo first half.
Garnett scored 16 points and Brandon had 14 points and eight
assists in the first half for the Timberwolves, who were outscored
29-21 in the second quarter.
Game notes
Minnesota made 17 of 24 shots and led 36-32 in a wild first quarter. Rookie Hedo Turkoglu had eight points in the second
quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers. The Timberwolves, who shot
only 11 free throws in the victory Sunday over Phoenix, had just seven
through three quarters and finished 12-for-14 overall. The Kings
reserves outscored the Minnesota bench 23-9.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Minnesota Clubhouse
Sacramento Clubhouse
RECAPS
Portland 98
Boston 90
Cleveland 92
New Jersey 90
Miami 88
Golden State 78
Dallas 104
Chicago 91
Indiana 85
LA Clippers 82
Sacramento 100
Minnesota 97
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Kevin Garnett Official Site
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