Jefferson Scores 39, Timberwolves Maul Suns 117-107

???????????????????????????????????????? Minnesota Timberwolves forward/center Al Jefferson (25) beats Phoenix Suns center Amare Stoudemire, left, to the rebound in the first quarter of their game, played Wednesday night.  Jefferson?s career-high 39 points led Minnesota to the win over Phoenix, 117-107.

I do not know if it is something in the water, but the Minnesota Timberwolves all of a sudden have their offensive mojo – and against a division that they typically do not do very well against.? Al Jefferson’s career-high 39 points on Wednesday played big, enabling the Timberwolves to win a rare home win over the Phoenix Suns 117-107 at Target Center.

Both teams shot very well – Phoenix at 56% to Minnesota’s 50%; but if anything hurt the Suns, it was personal fouls.? Phoenix committed 25, which helped Minnesota at the free throw line (22-13).? The Suns’ Amare Stoudemire started the game with 12 points over the first five minutes, giving Phoenix a 16-6 lead; the Suns?did little for the remainder of the half, whether it is from their?back-to-back games recently or maybe shocked by the energy put out by the T-Wolves.? In any case, Minnesota’s hot shooting after Phoenix’s initial outburst?allowed them to go?into halftime with a decent 65-50 lead.

Fast forwarding to the fourth quarter, The Suns’ Leandro Barbosa drained a trey near the 4-minute mark cut the Minnesota lead to 102-92, but?the T-Wolves’ Jefferson made a 3-point play, which for the most part sealed the win for Minnesota.? Minnesota’s leading scorer was the aforementioned Jefferson with a career-high 39 points and 15 rebounds, while Marko Jaric scored 15 with 8 rebounds and 10 assists; Ryan Gomes added 14 and 9 rebounds, while Sebastian Telfair and Corey Brewer – from off the bench – pitched in with 13 each.? Telfair also dished out 8 assists.

Phoenix was led by Stoudemire with 33 points and a pair of blocked shots, while Steve Nash added 21 – including 4 treys – and 16 assists; Raja Bell chipped in with 18, including 4 treys as well.? Minnesota (7-34) hope to extend their winning streak to 3 as they next travel to Boston to take on the Celtics Friday night, while Phoenix (30-13) flies to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers – also on Friday.

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