By George Devine, Sr.

The difference in tonight’s score at Minnesota was only that of a three-pointer, and the Kings had one more than the home team. But it was tense coming down to the wire. With 19.5 seconds to go, Sacramento high scorer Rudy Gay hit a 26 footer from the left, making it 107-102 in the visitors’ favor, but at 17.4 Kevin Love hit one from 27 feet on the right. It was that kind of game in a dynamic fourth quarter in which the T’Wolves outscored the Kings, 35-28. essentially balancing the second period in which Sacramento dominated, 34-24. The other two frames had scoring totals a point apart.

Gay, who has been scoring about 20 in most games since joining the Kings, exploded this time for 33, also contributing 5 rebounds and 6 assists. DeMarcus Cousins trailed him with 20 points and had 11 boards. Isaiah Thomas had 26 points and 7 assists. Derrick Williams came off the bench to score 16 and had 5 rebounds, in his first game at Minnesota since that team traded him to Sacramento.

For Minnesota, Love hit 17 points, had 11 rebounds and 5 assists. Kevin Martin, J.J. Barea and Nikola Pekovic each scored 14. Ricky Rubio committed 5 turnovers.