Victory over Knicks is good for what ails Timberwolves

Hours after they lived through what each called one of the worst nights of his life, Timberwolves teammates and summertime workout buddies Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer delivered their most influential performances of this young season in Wednesday's 115-99 victory over New York at Target Center.

Each was awake all or part of the previous night, ill in two ways after each ate the same thing before leaving work Tuesday. Each received intravenous fluids during the day, and each played a pivotal part in a much-needed romp that ended a five-game losing streak that ended a six-game road trip through two countries.

Eighteen days after they played their last game at Target Center, the Wolves led the struggling Knicks (who had played Tuesday in Milwaukee) by as many as 24 points and by no fewer than 13 points in the final quarter.

They did so with Martin trumping Saturday's 34-point game in Dallas by scoring 37 and tying his career record for most made three-pointers in a game with seven.

They did so with Brewer providing the kind of energy — and six of the Wolves' 15 steals — that belied the way he felt only hours earlier, when he arrived at the arena after missing morning shootaround not certain if he could even run.

"I was hurting so bad," Brewer said.

He left the game briefly and returned to the locker room but returned to play nearly 29 minutes. "I had to deal with some issues," he said simply.

So did his team, which was missing starters Nikola Pekovic, Thaddeus Young and Ricky Rubio as well as backup center Ronny Turiaf. That left the Wolves with Gorgui Dieng as their only healthy center and fellow youngsters Anthony Bennett and Robbie Hummel as their only other remaining big men.

So Wolves coach Flip Saunders improvised, changing his starting lineup by inserting Mo Williams for rookie Zach LaVine at point guard, converting Shabazz Muhammad (17 points, eight rebounds) to fill Young's starting power forward spot and playing Dieng 32 ½ extremely active minutes, both good and bad, as his starting center.

Most telling was Saunders' decision to go with the 11-year veteran at point guard. Williams produced 14 points and 13 assists in 31-plus minutes — more than the 25 minutes to which Saunders once hoped to limit him — and his skills complemented Martin's.

"Big difference," Martin said. "I think we saw that in the Dallas game. When Mo came in and got me going … he's just a veteran point guard in the backcourt with you. He knows your spots. He knows what you can do well out there after playing against you so many years. I give credit the last two games to Mo."

Saunders concurred, using the same "big difference" phrase to describe the swap of starting point guards.

"You look back and you see things," Saunders said.

Martin said he never considered not playing, not after what he called that "horrible" 1-5 road trip that ended with lopsided losses at New Orleans and Dallas, or after calling Monday's practice one of the most intense he'd experienced in the last decade.

"I knew we had to respond," Martin said. "This one showed a lot of character."

Martin sent a message, via the team's athletic trainer, to Saunders at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, informing him of his sudden illness. Saunders said he was awake to receive it.

"I couldn't sleep last night," Saunders said, "because I was trying to add up how we were going to get to 80 points."

Take away Martin's 37 and that leaves 78 points — two shy of 80.

"I think he's going to make me get an IV before every game," Martin said, referring to Saunders, "but that ain't happening."