By Frank Hughes
The News Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS – With four minutes left in a tight game between the Seattle SuperSonics and Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, T-wolves guard Anthony Peeler found himself trapped in the corner with the shot clock winding down.
To avoid a turnover, Peeler jumped and threw the ball across the court to Chauncey Billups.
Knowing he did not have time to land, set himself and shoot, Billups caught the ball in the air and tossed up a shot from 21 feet away all in one motion just as the shot clock expired.
It swished, sending the crowd of 16,561 at the Target Center into a tizzy while the Sonics could do nothing but rub their eyes in disbelief.
“That just lets you know how the game was going,” said Seattle’s Desmond Mason, whose team eventually had its two-game win streak snapped with a 111-106 loss to the talented Wolves.
“That was some great play calling,” Sonics guard Brent Barry said sarcastically. “I haven’t seen a cross-court alley-oop pass in a long time.”
As it turns out, that was one of the few passes that Peeler made, because he was knocking down virtually every shot he took.
Last year, Wolves coach Flip Saunders called Peeler “Seattle Slew,” referring to the long list of scintillating games the former Laker has had against Seattle since coming to Minnesota.
In the teams’ first two meetings this season, Peeler was rather ordinary, but he more than made up for that Wednesday, making 8 of 11 shots, 7 of 9 3-pointers and scoring 26 points off the bench as Minnesota (25-9) defeated Seattle for the second time this season and the seventh consecutive time in this half of the Twin Cities.
“It probably goes back to when George Karl was there,” Peeler said. “When George was there and when Nate (McMillan) was there, we had a lot of battles when I was with the Lakers. We had fights with Ricky Pierce, and with GP (Gary Payton) and with all those guys. They were battles from the start, and they are games I look forward to.”
The Sonics and the Wolves are two of the best outside shooting teams in the league, so it was no surprise that this became an offensive shootout, with Minnesota connecting on 53 percent of its shots and Seattle 52 percent.
Sonics forward Rashard Lewis had a spectacular 30 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two blocks, and made two 3-pointers in the final minute that kept Seattle close. Payton had 25 points and Vin Baker 23 points and nine boards.
The Sonics slowed sharpshooter Wally Szczerbiak, but Peeler’s outburst, as well as 29 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals by Kevin Garnett, was enough to send the Sonics to an 18-17 record after ending this three-game trip with two victories.
“You have to pick your poison,” Saunders said. “Do you set up your defense to stop (Peeler), or set it up to stop Garnett, or set it up to stop Szczerbiak?”
Seattle gets a one-game home respite against Cleveland on Friday, but then plays six of seven games in 11 days on the road.
What McMillan, the Sonics coach, can take from this loss is that his team, trailing by as many as 13 points, never gave up, fighting back behind the shooting of Lewis, who scored 22 second-half points.
But the Sonics knew their fate when Peeler made the pass to Billups, and Billups, filling in for the injured Terrell Brandon, broke their will.
“That wasn’t just one shot that beat us,” Payton said, “but you could just see the way the game was going at that time.”
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