MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Kevin Garnett and his teammates never gave the Denver Nuggets a chance to snap their five-game losing streak to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Garnett collected 26 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and four blocks as the Timberwolves cruised to a 89-76 triumph over the Nuggets.
Gary Trent added 14 points and Fred Hoiberg 12 for Minnesota, which led by as many as 24 points late in the third quarter and snapped a three-game home losing streak overall.
Minnesota, which led by 14 at the half, took a 68-46 advantage into the fourth quarter before Denver made a late charge. The Nuggets shot just 23 percent (14-of-61) from the field through three quarters and 32 percent overall (27-of-84).
"We contested shots and ran with them tonight," said Garnett, whose team outscored Denver on the break, 15-13. "We watched a lot of tapes on them in the last few days and we noticed that they get a lot of easy shots, they're one of the best fast-break teams."
"I thought we did a good job rebounding (47-38) and moving the ball better," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "We had 27 assists and only 12 turnovers, and shot 46 percent. Defensively, I thought we were extremely good. This is a good win."
Nikoloz Tskitishvili had 14 points to pace Denver, which was trying to record its first three-game winning streak since last November 22-26.
"We got to the point where we stopped moving the ball and got individualized," Denver coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "We had guys try to be the hero, and that's when it gets worse. We were outclassed from the opening tip."
Star rookie Carmelo Anthony added 10 points and nine rebounds but shot just 3-of-12 and sat out the fourth quarter with the game out of hand.
"It was hard with (Latrell) Sprewell on me. He was denying me the ball," Anthony said. "Then if I got it, you've got KG in the middle clogging that up. Then you got to one side, and you've got Mad Dog (Mark Madsen) on that side and Trent on the other. Everywhere you go, you've got somebody with you."
Without starting power forward Nene, who was out with a strained left groin, and center Marcus Camby in constant foul trouble, Denver was outscored in the paint, 40-18.
"We missed Nene a lot - we need a strong guy to defend KG and Trent - and his rebounding as well, and his finishing insside," Tskitishvili said. "We have some shooters outside, but we need somebody to play strong inside."
