NBA Game Summary - Cleveland at Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN (Basketball News) - Wally Szczerbiak had 26 points off the bench and Kevin Garnett added 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 94-88 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Target Center.

Szczerbiak shot 9-of-15 from the field leading a Minnesota bench that outscored Cleveland’s reserves 55-6. Fred Hoiberg tallied 13 points off the pine for the Timberwolves, who have won two straight heading into the All-Star break.

Kevin McHale improved to 2-1 as head coach of Minnesota, which got back to the .500 mark this season after posting the best mark in the NBA last year in advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

"It was a big win," said Garnett. "I’ve always said we needed some momentum going into the break. I felt like these games as of late have done just that. It was important for us to win these last two and feel good about ourselves going into the break."

LeBron James had 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the Cavs, who had a two-game win streak halted and lost for just the second time in six outings. James left the game during a four-minute stretch in the fourth quarter due to the flu, but returned only to see his club blow a late lead.

He was not available to the media after the game.

Ahead 71-70 when James left the game with eight minutes remaining, the Cavs extended their lead to 75-72 when Eric Snow hit a pair of free throws with 6:46 on the clock.

Minnesota came back to tie the game at 79-79 on a Szczerbiak three-pointer with 4:56 left, but Jeff McInnis’ running jumper 19 seconds later gave Cleveland back the lead.

However, that’s when Garnett started an 11-2 run that would give the Timberwolves a 90-83 cushion. Garnett and Szczerbiak combined to have eight points during the run, which was capped by a pair of Szczerbiak free throws with 1:27 remaining.

James re-entered the game with four minutes left after getting fluids in the locker room. When he came back on the court the game was tied 81-81.

Minnesota, which shot 46 percent from the floor, led 26-24 after one quarter and held a 51-45 advantage heading into the locker room.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 24 points and nine rebounds for the Cavs.

"We didn’t execute when it comes down to it," said Ilgauskas. "We fought so hard to get back in it and we gave it all away."