Blazers end T-Wolves' season

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Steve Smith got mad, then he kept the Minnesota 
Timberwolves from getting even.

Smith hit a key 3-pointer minutes after drawing a technical for 
tangling with Anthony Peeler, and the Portland Trail Blazers went 
on to eliminate the Wolves from the NBA playoffs with an 85-77 
victory Tuesday night. 

"I thought if I hit that one, it would really take the life out of 
them," Smith said. 

And it did. 

The Blazers won the best-of-five series 3-1 and advanced to face 
the Utah-Seattle winner. The Jazz lead that series 2-1 with Game 4 
Wednesday night in Seattle. 

Minnesota failed to reach the second round for the fourth straight 
season. Blame the Wolves' starters, who shot just 35 percent from 
the floor. 

Smith and Peeler confronted each other with 5:07 left and the 
Wolves clinging to a 73-72 lead. Smith fell down after taking a 
long jumper, and Peeler, angered at having caught an elbow on the 
play, walked over him slowly. The two jawed at each other and drew 
double-technical fouls. 

A minute later, Smith was called for a foul on Peeler, and Smith 
stared him down again. Blazers Coach Mike Dunleavy took Smith out 
briefly. 

"I didn't want his emotions to get away from him," Dunleavy said. 

Smith, who rarely gets rankled, said he just couldn't help 
confronting Peeler. 

"I don't want anybody to step on me when I'm down," he said. "But 
that's over. I don't want to get into that. It was the heat of the 
moment. It's a playoff game. It's over." 

And so is Minnesota's season, thanks to Smith. 

After the game, Smith and Peeler put the dispute behind them, 
shaking hands as they walked off the court. 

"We're tight," Peeler said. "We're friends." 

The Blazers trailed 75-74 before Smith's 3-pointer with 3:45 left, 
and the Wolves never regained the lead. 

Scottie Pippen (11 points) penetrated and dished off to Smith, who 
finished with 14 points, one fewer than Rasheed Wallace and Arvydas 
Sabonis. "Pippen really helped me. He drew two defenders and I was 
wide open," Smith said. 

After Grant's basket gave Portland a 79-75 lead, Terrell Brandon's 
layup made it 79-77 with just under a minute left. 

Wallace banked in a jumper from the top of the circle with 32 
seconds left, barely beating the buzzer and giving Portland a four-
point lead. His two free throws 12 seconds later iced it. 

Kevin Garnett, who nearly recorded his third triple-double of the 
series, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists,
said Smith's 3 and Wallace's buzzer beater were dual daggers. 

"Those are like pins in your back, thorns in your arms," Garnett 
said. "Everything you have in you, it takes it out of you." 

Greg Anthony capped the scoring with two free throws. It was the 
first time in eight games between the teams this season that the 
final margin was bigger than seven points. 

The Timberwolves, who blew a 13-point lead, again got inspired play 
from their reserves. This time, Bobby Jackson, who didn't play at 
all in Game 3, scored 11 points, and the Wolves outscored the 
Blazers by 13 points when he was in the game. 

Jackson had six points, an assist and a forced turnover in the 
final six minutes of the third quarter as the Wolves broke away 
from a 50-50 tie to take a 64-57 lead into the fourth quarter. 

The Wolves, who won 50 games for the first time in the franchise's 
11-year history, were 40-4 this season when leading after three 
quarters, but 0-2 in the playoffs. They also lost Game 1 after 
taking a lead into the final quarter. 

Jackson took a seat with the Wolves up 66-59, and by the time he 
returned three minutes later, the Blazers were up 70-68, thanks to 
six points from Detlef Schrempf. Jackson's quick 3-pointer gave 
Minnesota a 73-72 lead, but he came out again in favor of Brandon 
with the Wolves clinging to a 75-74 lead. 

And that's when Smith made his big bucket. 

The Wolves led 40-36 at halftime. They grabbed a 13-point lead in 
the second quarter, the largest of the series for either team, but 
their 36 percent shooting kept the Blazers in it. 

Portland closed the half on a 13-4 run. 

The Wolves, who set a franchise playoff mark by making 54 percent 
of their shots in Game 3 Sunday, scored just one basket in the 
final 6½ minutes of the half, and their starters made just 13 of 38 
shots for a 25 percent clip in the first half. 

Brandon's jumper made it 36-23 with 6:25 left in the half, but the 
Wolves went from frosty to frigid, managing only Malik Sealy's 
jumper and two free throws by Garnett before the break, muting the 
sellout crowd of 19,006 at Target Center. 

"This is one of those valleys, but I don't think anyone expected us 
to play them that hard throughout the series," Sealy said. 


Game notes
The Wolves missed 12 of their first 17 shots, yet still managed to 
hold the halftime lead for the third straight game. They trailed by 
a point at the break in Game 1. ... After tying an NBA playoff 
record by combining for just 13 turnovers on Sunday, the teams 
eclipsed that with six minutes left in the first half. ... The 
Blazers signed a game ball afterward for assistant Bill Musselman, 
a former Timberwolves coach who is hospitalized in Rochester with 
cancer. "We want to dedicate this whole series and this win to 
him," Pippen said.