Jefferson and Wolves accept ugly triumph

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The Wolves remain a surprise in the 2009 portion of this NBA season, after pulling out a thrilling but tattered overtime victory over the Bulls.

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: January 26, 2009 - 8:59 AM

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WOLVES 109, CHICAGO 108 (OT)

Up next: 7 tonight at Milwaukee

Bradley Center • TV: FSN (1130-AM)

So far down not so long ago, the Timberwolves emerged with the NBA's best record in 2009 after Sunday's 109-108 overtime victory over Chicago that coach Kevin McHale compared, in a backhanded way, to the work of one of art's great masters.

Trailing by 16 points in the first quarter and down seven with less than four minutes left in regulation time, the Wolves rode their defense and one-legged Al Jefferson on a 9-2 run that ended the fourth quarter and ultimately to their ninth victory in 11 January games.

"Best in 2009," Wolves guard Sebastian Telfair said.

That 9-2 mark surpasses San Antonio's 9-3 record in the month, and Sunday's game was perhaps Jefferson's final statement -- a 39-point one at that, hobbling on a cramped leg at game's end -- that he deserves a place in next month's NBA All-Star Game. Western Conference coaches' ballots are due in Tuesday.

"I hope he gets in," teammate Randy Foye said. "He deserves it. He's the leader of this team. He's the leading scorer, the leading rebounder and we're one of the hottest teams in the NBA. All of us know he's an All-Star. If he doesn't get in, it's just probably because the other guys are on TV more."

The Wolves trailed 12-2 and 20-4 almost before they knew it, but they recovered with an effort the rest of the way that was long on grit and resiliency and lacking nearly any aesthetics.

"I tell the guys that every night is not a Picasso," McHale said. "I'm sure Picasso threw more pictures in the garbage than he put on museum walls. I won't watch the film of this one. I'll just wonder for the rest of my life how we won."

It says volumes about the Wolves' development that McHale's team delivered a performance he compared to trash and yet it still won for the 11th time in 15 games.

The Wolves did so because Telfair's first-quarter scoring kept them in the game early and because Jefferson -- his cramping leg be damned -- refused to go quietly into the good night late.

"I don't know what to say," said Bulls center Joakim Noah, who valiantly but unsuccessfully tried to contain Jefferson on a 39-point night, one shy of Jefferson's career high. "I was playing as hard as I could. He just kept scoring the ball."

Jefferson's tip of his own missed shot tied the score with 24 seconds left and forced overtime.

"That ball was teasing me a little bit,"said Jefferson, who made 16 of 29 field-goal attempts. "Thank God it worked out the way it did."

Randy Foye made two of nine shots and scored only nine points, but his running shot off the backboard with 41 seconds left provided the final margin of victory. The Wolves stopped the Bulls on their final two possessions, including two shots in the final four seconds that rolled around the rim and fell away.

"We were just determined," Jefferson said. "This team, we just don't want to get beat anymore."

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