Heat vs. Timberwolves: Sebastian Telfair Rains Threes in Win Over Miami

The Miami Heat players, coaches, and fans had to have been confident entering last night’s game. They were facing a Minnesota Timberwolves squad who just lost their leading scorer, rebounder, and shot-blocker, Al Jefferson, to season-ending knee surgery.

Furthermore, Minnesota had lost their last five games, including a loss the night before to the Washington Wizards, the worst team in the league.

In that game, the Timberwolves showed no sign of what was to come against the Miami Heat except in a couple of respects—they nearly overcame a 19-point first-half deficit, and Randy Foye, Mike Miller, and Kevin Love were instrumental in that near comeback.

However, that bid to stop their losing streak at four games fell short, as the Wizards pulled away in the final minute of the game to secure a 111-103 victory. Mike James scored eight of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of shots from beyond the arc in the last two minutes, to seal the deal.

However, against the Miami Heat, they weren’t so unfortunate.

Miami, like Washington, jumped out to an early lead, ending the first quarter ahead of the Timberwolves, 31-20.

It seemed like the game had fallen into Miami's hands before tipoff, as the Heat jumped out to a 15-4 lead, with Dwyane Wade contributing six points on a couple of layups and two free throws to lead the spurt.

Newly-acquired Jermaine O’Neal contributed four points on a thunderous dunk and a hook shot, and Udonis Haslem scored five points on two dunks and a technical free throw.

American Airlines Arena was rocking, and the Timberwolves had called their first timeout.

But when play resumed, something happened that was an indicator of things to come. Sebastian Telfair got the ball from Ryan Gomes, and launched a three-pointer that began the comeback. No one looked at it as such at the time, but in hindsight, that’s where it began.

Despite great play throughout the rest of the quarter from Wade, Beasley, and Haslem, Miami couldn’t pull any further away from the Timberwolves. Miami even needed a three-pointer from Daequan Cook with eight seconds left to secure an 11-point lead. This is partly due to the fact Minnesota got solid contributions once again from Foye, Miller, and Love.

Of course, there was no real desperation or concern in the hearts of the Heat players, coaches or fans at this point because none of them knew Telfair had foreshadowed what would come later with his three-ball at the six minute mark. The only other points he’d scored were two free throws.

Dwyane Wade had 11 points in the quarter, leading the way for the Heat. O’Neal also seemed to be contributing well, and Haslem and Michael Beasley were solid. Even Mario Chalmers' two fouls weren’t much of a concern.

So, no need to worry. A Heat victory was coming right up. 

Oh, how unimaginative we all were. Although, who could blame us for not being able to imagine that a Timberwolves team that had shot 6-24 from beyond the arc the night before in a loss to the lowly Wizards would end the night shooting 14-22 from three-point land?

Yes, that’s right, people, 14-22.

That’s 63.6 percent from downtown. That’s a better shooting percentage than Shaq had in his glory days. The Heat, meanwhile, served up a helping of Déjà vu for the Timberwolves, matching their hapless performance of the night before against Washington by going 5-20 (25 percent) from beyond the arc.
And who was the architect of this unbelievable shooting performance by the Timberwolves? Why, none other than Sebastian Telfair, who shot a blistering 60 percent from long-distance, going 6-10. No one could stop him from raining down threes.

He ended the night with a career-high 30 points and also dished out eight assists.

And he wasn’t alone. Ryan Gomes went 3-4 from downtown. Randy Foye added two more out of his four attempts, Rodney Carney sank 1-2, and Mike Miller and Brian Cardinal got in on the act, each hitting a trey of his own.

When all was said and done, the Timberwolves looked like they wanted to prove to the world that Daequan Cook was anything but deserving of the Three-Point Shootout Championship he’d won on All-Star Weekend. Cook obliged them by shooting a despicable 2-7 from beyond the arc.

Even with all that, the Heat had plenty of chances to win this game. Although the Timberwolves laser-like precision had pulled them within three points of the Heat at the half, and allowed them to take a nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter, Miami made a furious attempt to stave off defeat in the final quarter.

In that quarter, it seemed fans in the American Airlines Arena were watching a repeat of the performance Dwyane Wade had given his fans in the Finals series against the Dallas Mavericks in 2006. He was a whirling dervish once again, showing everyone why his nickname is "Flash". Wade scored 13 of his 37 points in the final session, while dishing out four of his 12 assists.

In one four-minute stretch, it seemed certain the Miami Heat were going to snatch victory out from under Minnesota. Wade grabbed four steals and Chalmers copped two of his own, allowing the Heat to come back from nine points down to tie it up, 91-91.

However, Telfair wasn’t done for the night at that point, and sank two more threes, which, along with treys from Foye and Gomes, allowed the Timberwolves just enough cushion to keep the Heat at bay.

Even with all of this drama, the Heat would have won easily if they’d been able to do something the acquisition of Jermaine O’Neal supposedly was to assure, and dominated the paint.

Miami was out-rebounded by the Timberwolves 49-24, with their new center hardly living up to his reputation. O'Neal snatched one rebound in 27 minutes of play.

O’Neal’s offensive game seemed to be on track from the start, although it fizzled as the game went on. He shot well, going 6-9, but never seemed comfortable, and ended the night with a mere 13 points. While his offense fizzled, his rebounding and shot-blocking ability seemed to have deserted him from the very tip.

For the Miami Heat to win games, they’re going to need a lot more from Jermaine. Frankly, he was a supreme disappointment in this game.

Here’s hoping it’s just jet lag from his trip down from Toronto. If it’s not, the Raptors may have gotten a steal.

I’m hoping I won’t ever have to repeat that idea. I’m hoping that O’Neal reverts quickly to the All-Star-caliber form he showed over the last three weeks he was with Toronto. If he doesn’t, the Miami Heat are in for a very disappointing second half of the season.

Although Dwyane Wade had another spectacular night (37 PTS, 4 REB, 12 AST, 4 STL, 1 BLK), he’s not able to get the win all by himself.

He’ll need solid contributions from O’Neal, who will have to do better than 13 PTS, one REB, two AST, and one BLK. He’ll need Daequan to do better than his 2-7 from downtown and eight points.

He’ll need far more poise from Chalmers, who fouled out with 30 seconds to go in the game, and was limited throughout because of his foul trouble. And most importantly, he’ll need Beasley to step up his game.

About the only player on the Heat other than Wade you couldn’t fault for this loss was Haslem who, in his usual fashion, played ferocious ball. He scored 17 points to go along with his six REB, one BLK, and one STL over 39 minutes of play.

"Haz" laid it all out, and the rest of the team needs to follow his lead if the Heat are to win against the Sixers this Saturday.

Game note: Jamario Moon didn’t start, and didn’t do much when he was put in. Gotta hope that changes as well.