Minneapolis – Between Kevin Garnett’s game-clinching free throws with 9.3 seconds left, a relieved Minnesota Timberwolves fan turned to another.
“This is a steal,” he said.
Don’t the Nuggets know it.
Hello, all-star break. It couldn’t come fast enough.
Wednesday night, the Nuggets were beaten by a journeyman center and an inability to put a team away in a 99-94 loss to Minnesota at the Target Center. It was a game fitting of nearly everything the first half of this season has been – tantalizingly good at times and completely rotten at others.
“It’s a game that we let go,” Nuggets forward Eduardo Najera said. “I thought we had it. It’s a tough one because we needed this one.”
Denver (26-25) figures to battle with Minnesota, among others, for the last two playoff spots in the Western Conference.
“Not even so much battling with Denver, but whenever you play someone in your division it’s almost like a double-edged sword,” Garnett said. “One equals two almost because if you get defeated, it’s like losing or winning two games.”
A sloppy fourth quarter cost Denver a chance to put some space between it and the Timberwolves, who improved to 25-27, just 1 1/2 games behind the Nuggets for the seventh slot. They are one-half game ahead of the Clippers for the eighth spot.
“We just let the game slip away in the fourth quarter,” center Marcus Camby said. “Give those guys a lot of credit. They made key plays going down the stretch.”
Mark Blount, a former Nugget and Boston Celtic, made a bunch of them.
He scored six points in Minnesota’s 12-4 run in the last 2:30 of the game. His play wasn’t a surprise to Nuggets coach George Karl, who said, “We tried to overemphasize in the scouting report that Mark Blount is probably playing offensively as well as Garnett is.”
That didn’t quite sink in.
“I told (Blount), ‘I didn’t know you could make a shot like that,”‘ Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. “He’s been playing great the last couple of games, and even tonight he played great.”
Blount led Minnesota with 24 points and eight rebounds.
Anthony led the Nuggets with 28 points, 10 of those in the fourth quarter as he tried to carry the Nuggets to their fourth straight victory. But seven Denver turnovers and six offensive rebounds allowed in the quarter derailed that bid. So instead, the Nuggets have won three of their past four heading into the four-day all-star break.
“Hopefully we can take the same momentum that we have going into the break after the break,” Anthony said. “We’re on the right track. We’ve got to get healthy. We’ve got to fix a couple of things, but I think we’re on the right track.”
Said Karl: “We’re close. We’re close to being in a good place. You can’t complain about the fight of my team. I think 27-24 would have sounded a lot better than 26-25, but because of other teams drifting and having trouble staying with us, we’re in a good place. We have 31 left. If we can go out and win 20 of those, or a couple more, I don’t think anybody is going to catch us.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
