A close game came down to a one-on-one matchup between Antawn Jamison and Minnesota's Michael Beasley in the final 24 seconds. The Cavaliers now have lost 13 of 14 games, while Minnesota breaks a seven-game losing streak.
Final: Timberwolves 98, Cavaliers 97 A close game came down to a one-on-one matchup between Antawn Jamison and Minnesota's Michael Beasley in the final 24 seconds. First, Jamison blew past Beasley in sinking a layup that gave the Cavaliers a 97-96 lead with 10.6 seconds remaining. Then, Beasley made the same move in blowing past Jamison to give the Timberwolves a 98-97 lead with 5.9 seconds left. Finally, Jamison tried to do the same play, but this time the ball bounced away.
The Cavaliers now have lost 13 of 14 games, while Minnesota breaks a seven-game losing streak. Jamison lead the Cavaliers with 24 points on 10-for-21 shooting. Anthony Parker had a season-high 21 points while Mo Williams recorded his fifth-straight double-double with 17 points and 11 assists.
Meanwhile, Kevin Love didn't score a field goal for the Wolves until 9:09 remained. He finished with 16 points on 4-for-9 shooting and had 18 rebounds. Beasley finished with 28 poitns on 10-for-25 shooting.
3rd quarter update: Cavaliers 73, Wolves 70 The ones you often forget about on the Cavaliers had a hand in giving Cleveland its narrow lead heading into the fourth. Quietly steady guard Anthony Parker had 10 points in the third, for 16, in all. Backup forward Jawad Williams hit back-to-back 3s at the end of the quarter to give the Cavaliers the lead.
Michael Beasley had just four points in the quarter for Minnesota, he heads into the fourth with 26. Antawn Jamison leads the Cavaliers with 19 points, while Varejao and Kevin Love each have 11 rebounds for their teams.
2nd quarter update: T-Wolves 51, Cavaliers 49
The up-and-down play continued, and the Cavaliers added some sloppy play to it. Cleveland, which is best in the NBA with 13 turnovers per game, already has 12, with seven coming in the second quarter. Defense on Michael Beasley disappeared in the second quarter, too, as Beasley scored 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting, already totaling 22 points for the half.
The Jamario Moon move to the lineup isn't working that well as Moon already has shot two airballs on corner 3 attempts, and was taken off his assignment of Beasley in favor of Anthony Parker.
The bright points for the Cavaliers is that they're shooting 50 percent, holding Minnesota to 38 percent, Kevin Love has only two points (on free throws) and Mo Williams has 15 poitns on 6-for-10 shooting.
1st quarter update: Cavaliers 28, Wolves 17
Maybe the Cavaliers have pretty good memories, because so far this seems to be a reverse of the last time these teams faced each other. The Cavaliers are hitting tons of shots, made 52 percent of their attempts and held Minnesota to 28.6-percent shooting. Mo Williams' hot shooting continues, as the point guard missed only his final shot at the buzzer, hitting 4-of-5 attempts for 11 points. Anderson Varejao has six rebounds, and Antawn Jamison has nine points on 4-for-7 shooting. Jamison also took a hard tumble late in the quarter, and stood up grimacing and limping on his sore left knee. He didn't come out of the game, though.
Cavs starters: F Jamario Moon, F Antawn Jamison, C Anderson Varejao, G Anthony Parker, G Mo Williams.
Timberwolves starters: F Michael Beasley, F Kevin Love, C Darko Milicic, G Wesley Johnson, G Luke Ridnour
Injuries: Joey Graham (strained right quad) is out for Cavs. Nikola Pekovic (sprained left ankle) and Antohy Tolliver (sprained right MCL) are out for the Wolves.
Inactives: Christian Eyenga, Joey Graham and Daniel Gibson for Cavs. Tolliver, Pekovic and Sundiata Gaines for the Wolves.
Officials: Bill Spooner, Tony Brothers and Kevin Cutler
Three things to watch:
1. Who will pick up the scoring punch typically provided by Daniel Gibson, who is sitting out the game with flu-like symptoms?
2. The last time these teams faced each other, Minnesota destroyed Cleveland by 34 points -- and it wasn't even that close. Will the Cavaliers remember that loss and try to exact revenge?
3. How will the "scramble" defense, as Mo Williams calls it when they play a bigger team, fare with slowing big men Beasley and Love?