J.J. Barea scored 14 crucial points in the fourth quarter to help the Minnesota Timberwolves top Oklahoma City 99-93 and break the Thunder's 12-game winning streak Thursday night.
"It's important,'' the Associated Press quoted Minnesota coach Rick Adelman as saying. "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 Love was the top scorer with 28 points, seven assists and 11 rebounds. Nikola Pekovic added 24 points and chipped in with 10 rebounds, while J.J. Barea finished with 18 points.
For the Thunder, Kevin Durant contributed with 33 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Russell Westbrook fell one assist short of a triple-double, ending with 30 points, nine assists and 11 rebounds.
"It's not the end of the world. A lot of people said the world is going to end today (Thursday), 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."
Serge Ibaka added 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the team with the best record.
Minnesota's offense took control of the game in the first quarter and completely outclassed the Thunder 30-18. Oklahoma City fought back in the second quarter and outscored the Timberwolves 26-23, but they were still trailing by nine points at the end of first half.
The Thunder again outscored the Timberwolves 25-23 in the third quarter, but could not take the lead in the game.
In the fourth quarter, Durant reduced the Timberwolves lead to 80-77 by hitting two free throws and it seemed the Thunder were going to take over.
However, Barea did not let that happen. He shot two 3-pointers to extend Minnesota's lead and again scored three points with 5.26 remaining in the game to take the score in the Timberwolves' favor 92-81. The former Dallas Maverick netted 14 points in the fourth quarter to ensure victory for his team.
"I love it," Barea said. "We just needed a little bit more tonight, a little energy and I'm glad I was able to provide that for us tonight."
The Thunder made 33 of 82 attempts from the floor, while the Timberwolves had 37 of 82. Minnesota shot nine 3-pointers, whereas OKC could manage only five.
"We battled, we fought. I'm proud of our guys," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "We had a great streak, a great month going. But we lost to a very good team. We knew sooner or later they were going to get hot. They got hot tonight."
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