The Timberwolves practiced on the Boston Celtics' courts, worked out with their weight equipment, got a good night's sleep in their city and, in making themselves thoroughly at home, did everything but take the Celtics' girlfriends out to dinner.

Then they helped themselves to a 98-95 overtime victory Friday night at the FleetCenter that, by rights, seemed to belong to to Boston, too.

Trailing for most of the night in a game that, logistically, was more of a home game for them than for the Celtics, the Wolves only got serious deep in the fourth quarter. Until then, it was hard to tell that Boston was the team stranded by weather in Toronto on Thursday, the ones unable to fly back until mid-day Friday.

"We told ourselves, 'Get off to a good start. Take them out of their misery. Hit them hard,' " Wolves guard Chauncey Billups said. "We just didn't do it."

Not until very, very late.