Jefferson, Gomes help T-Wolves top Clips

Al Jefferson had his 48th double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds, Ryan Gomes scored 19 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Clippers 99-90 Monday night.

Minnesota won for the fourth time in six games and moved past Seattle into fourth place in the Northwest Division. Jefferson trails only Orlando's Dwight Howard, who recorded his 60th double-double Monday, among NBA leaders in that category.

Corey Maggette had 34 points for Los Angeles, which concluded a five-game road trip by losing its fourth straight. Tim Thomas added 22 points.

Minnesota went on a 13-4 run early in the fourth quarter to take an 81-70 lead. Craig Smith had three quick points to open the period, Rashad McCants hit a 3-pointer and a long jumper before Kirk Snyder made two long-range jumpers.

McCants scored 16 points, Snyder 14 and Smith 11 for the Timberwolves. Marko Jaric had 10 assists.

A 3-pointer by Maggette pulled Los Angeles to 95-88 with 2:33 to play, but the Clippers could get no closer.

Maggette, who also scored 34 points Saturday in Washington, has scored at least 30 points seven times this year. This was the second time in six weeks, and fifth time in his career, that Maggette had back-to-back games with 30-plus points.

But he and Thomas got little help, especially with C Chris Kaman missing his fifth straight game with a lower back injury. Cuttino Mobley scored just 10 points, shooting 3-for-15, and the Clippers' reserves were 5-for-17 from the field, getting outscored 31-10.

Minnesota finished the first half making six of seven shots — including a 3-pointer and layup from Gomes — to take a 47-44 lead at intermission. Gomes had 15 in the first half for Minnesota and Snyder 10. Thomas had 13 for the Clippers and Maggette 11.

Notes:@ Sebastian Telfair missed his fifth straight game for Minnesota with a sprained left ankle. Coach Randy Wittman hopes to have the guard back on the court next week. "We'll have some time to get him on the floor in practice and get him tested really good before we have to put him back out there." ... Thomas was given a technical early in the fourth quarter. ... Minnesota improved to 4-44 when scoring less than 100 points.