NBA Game Summary - Charlotte at Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN (Basketball News) - Kevin Garnett had 19 points to lead five Timberwolves in double figures, as Minnesota defeated the Charlotte Bobcats, 102-89, at the Target Center.

Garnett added 11 rebounds to tally a double-double for Minnesota, which has won two straight games.

Michael Olowokandi scored 18 points and grabbed eight boards while Wally Szczerbiak contributed 15 points in the victory.

"We were not very good tonight," said Charlotte head coach Bernie Bickerstaff. "The outside shots had nothing to do with their points in the paint. We did didn’t have an answer for Olowokandi. I thought he had a tremendous ball game. I don’t know what to tell you, we were bad tonight it was that simple."

Minnesota’s Rashad McCants scored 11 points off the bench in his North Carolina reunion with former teammates Raymond Felton and Sean May.

Felton led the Bobcats with 15 points and dished out five assists while May scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds. Emeka Okafor tallied 11 points and grabbed 10 boards for the Bobcats, who lost road games on back-to-back nights.

Charlotte shot just 37 percent from the floor but did connect on 28-of-32 from the charity stripe. The Timberwolves shot 52 percent from the floor, which was aided by their ability to get into the paint. They held a massive 46-18 edge in the lane.

Minnesota led throughout the opening 12 minutes and took a 23-20 advantage into the second period behind 50 percent shooting from the floor.

Behind Szczerbiak’s 12 points, the Timberwolves led 45-38 at the break.

Kareem Rush and Brevin Knight paced the Bobcats with eight points each, and the team took advantage of its trips to the foul line (11-of-12).

The Charlotte offense was stagnant in the early part of the third quarter and Minnesota took a double-digit lead.

Mark Madsen’s layup off a pass from Marko Jaric increased the lead to eight, then a Garnett slam in transition extended the lead to 49-39.

Charlotte went more than eight minutes without a field goal before it connected on three straight jumpers, two from May, to cut the lead to 51-45.

Moments later, Troy Hudson’s three-pointer from the left wing capped a 10-2 spurt and gave Minnesota a 65-51 lead. The Timberwolves held a 74-61 edge after three quarters.

The lead increased to 80-61 behind the scoring of Olowokandi. He first hit a jumper in the lane, then showed his range on consecutive mid-range jumpers, the last coming with 9:45 remaining in the game.

Minnesota led by double-digits the rest of the way.