T'Wolves Shock Sonics

April 29, 1998 / 1:59 AM EDT / CBS/AP

The Minnesota Timberwolves were supposed to be too young, too small, too depleted by injuries.

Now it's starting to look like they just might be too good for the Seattle SuperSonics.

Playing with all the poise and confidence they're supposed to lack, the seventh-seeded Wolves stunned the playoff-tested Sonics on Tuesday night with a 21-4 fourth-quarter run on the way to a 98-90 victory and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 series.

"It's amazing to be in the situation we're in," said Anthony Peeler, who regained his shooting touch to lead the Wolves with a career playoff-best 20 points. "But we have to close it out on Thursday."

Minnesota, which made its first trip to the Western Conference playoffs last season and won its first postseason game at second-seeded Seattle on Sunday, can win its first series Thursday night at home.

Game 5, if necessary, would be Saturday in Seattle, and if the second-seeded Sonics don't rally, coach George Karl's seven-year tenure could be over.

"I expect Thursday, that would be do-or-die for them," said Kevin Garnett, who scored seven of his 19 points in the final period. "Right now, they know they're on the ropes and we're at home and we have a lot of confidence being here. I think they're going to come out full thrust."

The Pacific Division-champion Sonics have been here before. They trailed Phoenix 2-1 in the first round last year before winning the last two games.

Still, Seattle clearly has been shocked by the turn of events since their 25-point blowout win last Friday. The Sonics haven't lost three straight games all season, and one more loss to the Wolves would rival their first-round failure against Denver in 1994 as their biggest collapse under Karl.

"Nobody would have anticipated this," Hersey Hawkins said. "Nobody in their wildest dreams could have thought we'd be sitting here down 2-1. All year we've been priding ourselves on not losing three in a row. This is the big test."

Peeler shot a combined 7-for-32 in the first two games, a shortcoming he overcame with 24 rebounds despite his lack of size at 6-foot-4. This time he played more like the shooting guard he is, going 7-for-15 and hitting 4-for-7 from 3-point range.

That included a 3-pointer for an 83-76 lead with 5:58 to play, matching Minnesota's biggest of the game. But it turned out only to be part of the surge during which Seattle fell apart and the Wolves capitalized on nearly every opportunity.

"Whenever we get tired, we know they're an older team and we know they're more tired than us," Peeler said.

That's exactly how the Sonics looked in the fourth quarter. After Peeler's 3-pointer, Gary Payton threw the ball out of bounds on the next possession when Detlef Schrempf cut unexpecedly. Garnett dunked a rebound at the other end to make it 85-76.

Vin Baker scored to make it 85-78, but Minnesota scored the next eight points, including a long 3-pointer by Stephon Marbury, with the help of two Seattle turnovers to take its biggest lead, 93-78 with 3:00 remaining.

"The next 48 hours, I don't think anyone deserves to go through what's going to happen in the next 48 hours," Karl said. "Your body's going to go through tremendous emotional turmoil. But it's how we hold together (that matters most)."

Garnett and Sam Mitchell each had 19 points for the Wolves, who lost 15 straight at home to Seattle since a victory Dec. 30, 1990. The win was Minnesota's seventh straight at home, extending the franchise record it set by winning the last six regular-season games at Target Center.

Payton scored 26 points to lead the Sonics, who led by as many as 11 in the first quarter, but wilted against the Wolves' "small-ball" lineup, which routinely keeps three guards on the floor.

Karl blasted his team's defense with his first post-game comments, finishing with an expletive to describe his team's effort.

"I was disappointed in the defensive end of the court," he said. "It was astounding to me that we would be as unaggressive, soft ..."

Baker had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Seattle, which lost despite outrebounding Minnesota for the first time in the series, 42-29.

Trailing 50-46 at halftime, the Sonics held Minnesota to 7-for-20 shooting in the third quarter to take a 72-67 lead into the final period. The Wolves were 1-for-6 from 3-point range in the quarter after going 7-for-11 in the first half.

But Mitchell started the fourth with a three-point play, and Micheal Williams tied it with two free throws. Baker gave the Sonics their last lead at 74-72 before Terry Porter and Mitchell hit consecutive desperation jumpers to put Minnesota up for good.

Notes: After getting a team-record 20 offensive rebounds in their Game 2 win, the Wolves didn't get their first Tuesday night until Williams grabbed a long rebound with 6:08 left in the second quarter. The Wolves finished with eight offensive boards. ... Seattle was 4-for-19 from 3-point range and now is 17-for-65 (27.4 percent) in the series after leading the NBA in 3-point accuracy during the regular season at 39.6 percent. ... The Sonics are 94-95 in the playoffs, 37-36 under Karl. ... Minnesota now has won nine of 11 and 14 of 19.