Nets top Timberwolves

Ricky Davis and Randy Foye contributed 18 points each for Minnesota, which has lost two of three. Kevin Garnett scored 17 points and raked in 11 rebounds in the loss. Mark Blount added 15 points for Minnesota.

Moore added a season-high eight rebounds to go along with his perfect performance from the field, and Jason Kidd scored 19 points and doled out eight assists as New Jersey won its second straight after dropping the previous four. Vince Carter added 14 points for the Nets.

"I always play pretty hard when I play against KG [Garnett], he’s a great player, and we’re both from South Carolina...so I try to bring my best game," said Moore.

A driving layup by Kidd put New Jersey up 56-48 just over a minute into the third quarter, but the Nets couldn’t quite put the T-Wolves away. Garnett hit a fadeaway with just under six minutes left in the quarter that brought Minnesota to within 61-60, but that was as close as the T-Wolves got. New Jersey led 72-66 entering the fourth quarter.

Minnesota never threatened in the final 12 minutes, and the Nets led by as many as 14 points on the way to their eight-point victory.

Carter scored nine points in the first quarter, including a dunk with three seconds left that sent the Nets into the second quarter ahead 21-16.

"We didn’t come out with the focus we needed in the first quarter, and we were playing catch up the rest of the night," said Minnesota head coach Dwane Casey. "That’s no excuse in the NBA, you have to be mentally tough to pull these games out."

A Foye three-pointer gave the Timberwolves a 24-23 lead with 10:24 left in the first half, but the Minnesota lead would be short-lived. Jefferson threw down an alley-oop from Marcus Williams 13 seconds later to give the Nets back the lead at 25-24, and New Jersey was able to maintain a small advantage for the rest of the first half.

The Nets led 52-46 at the break.

Game Notes

The win was Lawrence Frank’s 129th as head coach of the Nets, against 106 losses, placing him in a tie for second in team history with Kevin Loughery, who went 129-234 from 1977-1980. Byron Scott, at 149-139, still sits atop the list...Moore’s 33 minutes were a season-high.