Timberwolves trip up Thunder

— Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder have been blowing by the rest of the Western Conference in these first two months, playing with the swagger born of their run to the NBA Finals last season.

J.J. Barea and the Minnesota Timberwolves sent a message Thursday night that a second consecutive trip isn’t going to come easy.

Playing with the tenacity that made him so important to the Dallas Mavericks’ run to the title two years ago, Barea scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to help the Timberwolves snap Oklahoma City’s 12-game winning streak with a 99-93 victory over the Thunder.

Kevin Love had 28 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists and Nikola Pekovic had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota. But it was Barea who was the key, scoring 12 consecutive at one point for the Timberwolves to hold off the team with the best record in the league.

“It’s important,” Coach Rick Adelman said of beating the Thunder. “But I would like to see us get to a point where this is not a big deal. It’s a big game against the best team, but this is something we can do.”

Kevin Durant had 33 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists and Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists for the Thunder, who had not lost a game since Nov. 23 at Boston.

“It’s not the end of the world. A lot of people said the world is going to end today, tomorrow, but it’s not the end of the world,” Durant said. “We lost to a good team. They came out and played extremely hard and they beat us. We’re 21-5 and we’ve just got to go back and work.”

That it was Barea, and not the Olympian Love or Ricky Rubio who was chiefly responsible was the biggest surprise of all.

Barea didn’t join the Timberwolves until training camp already had started last season, then languished through the first injury-plagued year of his career. Finally healthy, he’s getting back to being the player who helped the Mavericks to the title two years ago.

With the Thunder charging early in the fourth quarter, the smallest guy on the court played the biggest.

After Durant’s two free throws cut Minnesota’s lead to 80-77, Barea hit two threepointers and scored on a putback under the rim, an 8-0 run by himself that gave the Timberwolves a little breathing room. His long three with 5:26 to play made it 92-81, and the Timberwolves held on.

Barea was also a nuisance on defense, drawing an offensive foul on Durant with 2:24 to play. Durant uncharacteristically lost his composure, picking up a technical foul for arguing the call as well.

“Seems like him and Kevin Love don’t miss against us,” Durant said. “Seems like every team has that guy and I think those are the guys against us. Next time we’ve just got to do a better job.”

Serge Ibaka had 14 points and nine rebounds, but Westbrook missed 19 shots and turned the ball over eight times in an off night.

Alexey Shved had 12 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds for the Wolves, who are trying to claw their way back to respectability after years at the bottom of the Western Conference.

DALLAS — LeBron James scored 24 points with some early baskets on sharp passes from Dwyane Wade, and Miami rolled to a victory over the injury-plagued Mavericks.

James has scored at least 20 points in all 23 games, the longest streak to start an NBA season since Karl Malone’s 24 in a row opening the 1989-1990 season.

The Heat never trailed after James drove for a short floater three minutes into the game to make it 6-4. Wade had 19 points and six assists while Chris Bosh had 17 points.

Rookie Jae Crowder had 15 points to lead six Dallas players who scored at least 10 points each. Dahntay Jones and Bernard James had 12 points each.

PORTLAND, Ore. — J.J. Hickson had 18 points and 18 rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets.

Nicolas Batum had 22 points to give the Blazers their first four-game winning streak of the season despite missing forward LaMarcus Aldridge because of a sprained left ankle.

The Nuggets were 0 for 22 from threepoint range, breaking the NBA record of 20 misses set by the Trail Blazers in a game against Toronto last week. Seventy-four of Denver’s points came in the lane.

The Blazers led by 18 points in the first half and while the Nuggets were able to close the gap, they were never able to pull even.

Sports, Pages 24 on 12/21/2012

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