MINNEAPOLIS - This loss left the coach and players just about speechless and the team president pacing back and forth for 15 minutes after the game, bitterly complaining about the final call to anyone who would listen.
For the first time this season the 76ers have lost three games in a row, last night's happening with one-tenth of a second to play when Andre Iguodala was called for a foul on a driving Kevin Love, who hit both free throws to give the Minnesota Timberwolves a 92-91 victory.
After Lou Williams missed a 19-foot jumper and Love corralled the rebound with 3.6 seconds left, the T-Wolves ran an inbounds play in which the ball went to Love, who faked a handoff to guard Ricky Rubio near the top of the three-point line. Love then spun and went down the lane, where he was met with resistance from Iguodala, who came over to help on the play. Iguodala reached for the ball - and replays show he certainly did grab a good chunk of it - but was called for the foul. Love hit both foul shots, capping his team's 23-for-26 night from the line, to just 8-for-10 for the Sixers.
"The guy just made a play to the basket and looked like he had his guy beat so I kind of helped in," said Iguodala, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. "I thought I forced a jump ball but they saw it differently."
All coach Doug Collins would say about the deciding play was: "I'm not going to go there." As he spoke, president Rod Thorn was still seething in the hallways of the Target Center.
The Timberwolves (16-16) have a luxury the Sixers (20-12) don't right now. After the two teams were soft-tossing long-range bombs with dominant guard play in the first half, the Wolves decided to use their heavy arsenal in the second half. That's when Love (20 points, 15 rebounds) and gargantuan (6-11, 290) Nikola Pekovic (17 and nine) started to get the ball in the paint and force the issue. Love had 14 of his points in the second half and the 6-11, 290-pound Pekovic had 13.
It was the fourth time this season the Sixers have lost a game late, joining the disappointments they suffered earlier this year on last-second shots against Denver, New Jersey and the Clippers.
