The Mavs played him perfectly, forcing him to pick up his dribble on the left block with Devin Harris on his hip, Shawn Marion coming to double and Jae Crowder hovering in the area for a seemingly insurmountable triple-team. And Kevin Love hesitated, just a tad, before pump-faking and bumping Harris in the chest. He pivoted through Marion’s double-team for some open space that had seemed like a mirage just a millisecond earlier. Brandan Wright was right there, too, but Love’s leaner arced over Wright’s outstreched hand and rattled through the iron to give the Timberwolves a 123-122 edge with just 11.1 seconds in overtime.
Dirk Nowitzki came back at Love on the other end, but his shot was long and the Timberwolves got a huge road victory in Dallas.
Love finished with 35 points on 11-of-20 shooting, and while he was the hero at the end, Ricky Rubio‘s triple-double of 22 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds paced the ‘Wolves. Minnesota is still six games back of Dallas for the No. 8 seed in the West, but they wouldn’t let the Mavericks’ fourth quarter comeback derail them in the extra session.
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