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Buzzer-beating victory makes change ring true

Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune

The Timberwolves' Damien Wilkins shot over the Nets' Terrence Williams for the game-winner at the buzzer, lifting Minnesota to a 95-93 victory.

The new-look Wolves were a mix of good and bad before surging from behind and winning at the wire.

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: October 29, 2009 - 8:59 AM

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SEASON OPENER WOLVES 95, NEW JERSEY 93

Up next: 7 p.m. Friday vs. Cleveland • Target Center • TV: FSN (1130-AM)

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The Timberwolves trailed New Jersey by 19 points in their season opener Wednesday night at Target Center.

They didn't have one player who finished with more than two assists.

Their first three-pointer of the night was made by a fan during a halftime contest.

So how did the Wolves ever leap away with a 95-93 victory over the Nets on Damien Wilkins' putback bank shot at the buzzer after they trailed by 16 points with less than seven minutes left?

"You have to tell me that," Wolves rookie guard Jonny Flynn said with a quizzical look.

Some things, you just can't explain.

On a night when the Wolves introduced a new coach and seven new players, New Jersey center Brook Lopez threatened to make the evening a reminder about the franchise's past. The guy the Wolves passed over in a 2008 draft that brought them Kevin Love had 27 points through three quarters, then didn't score again on a night when the Wolves finished with an inexplicable 24-6 flourish.

They did so by putting the ball in the hands of Flynn, their rookie point guard who until the final deciding minutes had provided what new coach Kurt Rambis called "some good things and some really bad things."

They did so by showing faith in Corey Brewer's defense even after he made one of his first 11 shots and finished 3-for-14. But he made a crucial baseline jump shot in the final 93 seconds.

And they did so not with Al Jefferson's offense (nine points and four rebounds in 24 minutes), but with his crucial block of a Lopez shot with 27 seconds to go.

Ultimately, though, Wilkins' putback shot as he fell to the court won it after the Wolves had the ball last and relied on Flynn to create in a two-man game with Jefferson.

"I just thought it was important I put the ball in his hands and show him I have confidence [in him] to make the right decision," Rambis said. "That's something he'll have to get used to."

Flynn's jump shot with three seconds left missed, but, well, let's let Wilkins explain.

"The ball just settled in my hands," he said. "Well, it fell into Al's hands. Then it fell into Corey's hands. And then it ended up with me. ... I didn't know at first if it had beaten the buzzer. I felt like it did. I started to celebrate like it did."

Brewer leaped at halfcourt and punched the air with his fist just before the officials gathered to examine the television replay and then award the Wolves victory on a night when Rambis needed to deliver what he called a "few choice words from yours truly" at halftime.

"Kurt's a cool guy," Jefferson said. "He just said, 'Y'all playing soft.' He just called us soft. That was the key word. I'm a man. I don't like being called soft, but it was true."

Those final seven minutes changed everything, after Rambis turned to a unit down the stretch that featured Flynn, Brewer, Jefferson and Wayne Ellington and that defended like no other combination Rambis had tried until then.

The only reason Wilkins was in the game at the end was because Brian Cardinal had to come out after his grotesquely dislocated a finger late in the game. Cardinal was the only player to make a three-pointer in a game when the Nets went 0-for-8 and the Wolves 1-for-7.

The first to make a three was that fan at halftime.

"I didn't know that," Wilkins said. "But I wish it would have counted."

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