LOS ANGELES - Punch drunk into a disturbing dream from which they can't awaken, the Timberwolves lost for the fourth time in as many games this young season, 107-93 to the Lakers on Friday night at Staples Center.
The Wolves reconfigured their starting lineup because of Rashad McCants' sprained ankle and coach Randy Wittman's desire to invigorate his bench, but they couldn't reverse the trends that have vexed them so here in the season's opening eight days.
Once again unable to hold an early lead and prevent their opponents' parade to the free-throw line, the Wolves eventually succumbed this time both to Kobe Bryant's precise 30-point, seven-rebound, seven-assist night and to the Lakers' 12-2 run that opened the third quarter, a burst from which the Wolves never completely recovered.
"There was a moment they punched us in the head," Wolves guard Marko Jaric said, "and we didn't react like we were supposed to react."
The Wolves didn't recover until the fourth quarter, when they whittled that 16-point third-quarter lead to as little as a seven-point deficit with less than four minutes remaining.
By then, it was obvious Bryant -- who entered the evening the NBA's leading scorer with a 30.5-point average -- controlled the game, with his scoring, his playmaking, his will on a night when Wolves forward Al Jefferson recorded his fourth consecutive double-double with a 24-point, 15-rebound evening.
"That's just another night for Kobe," said Wolves forward Gerald Green, who ignored an infected toe and played the game's final nine minutes.
By then, it also seemed certain the Wolves' free-throw woes -- their opponents shoot 'em by the bushel basket, they don't -- weren't going away soon. Overwhelmed in that department every game out since opening night, the Wolves shot 14 free throws on Friday, the Lakers 41.
In four games, their opponents have attempted 94 more free throws, an average of 23.5 a game.
"The free throws are a nightmare," Wittman said. "It's déjà vu, like is this real or not. Forty-one to 14, is that what it was? And we're still in the game. If we ever get that under control, it's going to give us a fighting chance."
Wittman inserted Jaric into the starting lineup following his 10-assist, 10-point performance Tuesday against Orlando and placed Sebastian Telfair into a reserve role because he said he wanted more "energy" from the team's bench after the Wolves had lost first-quarter leads in each of their first three games.
On Friday, with Jaric running the team from the opening tap for the first time and Ryan Gomes scoring nine of the team's first 11 points, the Wolves led 17-9 and 20-12 midway through the first quarter, a lead the Lakers erased in the next three minutes.
Trailing 56-50 at halftime, the Wolves managed to score only on a Jaric jump shot in the third quarter's opening four minutes. Center Chris Mihm and Lamar Odom, making his season debut with an 18-point, 10-rebound game, fueled that telling stretch, not Bryant.
"That's the first time in four games I saw our guys with some bad body language," Wittman said. "They really hit us hard, and it took a while for us to hit them back. Good teams will do that to you when you're on the road. That's when we've got to keep going. That's something where we've got to do a better job."
Jerry Zgoda • jzgoda@startribune.com
wolves/nba
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