Rookie Leads T'wolves By Hawks

The backup played poorly. Not so the backup's backup.

Rookie William Avery guided the Minnesota Timberwolves past the Atlanta Hawks 86-76 in overtime Tuesday night in his first significant crunch time of the season.

Bobby Jackson started in place of flu-ridden Terrell Brandon but he was largely ineffective. Avery, on the other hand, starred.

Avery capped his night with a 3-pointer with 1:56 left in OT that gave the Wolves their biggest lead of the night, 82-73.

"Will stepped up tremendously tonight," Kevin Garnett said. "I told him, `When you come to the game, don't be timid. You've now played almost a whole year of NBA basketball. ... It's no different than you being in Cameron. It's no different than being outside shooting at the goals at 10 o'clock at night. Just come in and relax, man. You know the plays. Enjoy yourself while you're out here."

"Tonight he was feeling it," Garnett said.

Avery, who logged a season-high 32 minutes 10 more than his previous high said he felt just like he was back in college guiding the Blue Devils.

"I looked into my teammates' eyes and knew that they trusted me," Avery said. "I said, I'm the point guard, I'm the quarterback, I'm the coach on the floor. I've got to get things going."

Avery's big performance spared the Wolves a hree-game losing streak.

"He did a great job. He was very aggressive offensively and gave us a big spark, knocked down big shots," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. "And in one of the first times he's probably been in the heat of battle. I thought he responded really well."

"I said all along, with the (three point guards) that we have, you have the flexibility as a coach to go to somebody that might be able to jump-start you. And Bobby struggled tonight, to say the least," Saunders said.

Garnett did, too. He had another poor shooting performance (9-for-26) but managed 18 points, as did Joe Smith, who scored four baskets in overtime.

The Wolves nearly had a franchise first holding an opponent scoreless in overtime. But Dion Glover swished a 3-pointer with three seconds left.

Jim Jackson's 13 points led the Hawks, who lost their ninth straight on the road. Dikembe Mutombo had nine points and 16 rebounds.

The game was tied at 73 after regulation. Garnett missed an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer after Atlanta's Jason Terry drove the lane and scored against Jackson with 3.6 seconds left to tie it.

The Wolves missed their first 11 shots, three by Jackson, and Minnesota's starters were just 6-for-29 from the field in the first half. Minnesota trailed 43-40 at halftime.

The Wolves were coming off back-to-back losses in which Garnett scored just 14 points in each defeat. The skid all but buried the Wolves' hopes of moving into fourth place in the Western Conference and gaining homecourt advantage in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Brandon's illness comes at a particularly bad time for the Wolves, who play six of their next seven games on the road. Saunders said he didn't know if Brandon would make the team's trip to the West Coast on Wednesday.

Avery's performance had to ease his worries, however.

"I was very impressed by Avery," Terry said. "He came in and was relaxed and took some open shots and made them. He hit some key ones down the stretch, too. I don't think they have to worry too much with Will Avery."

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