Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett refused to blame his team's 97-83 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics on Tuesday night on the officials, citing Seattle point guard Gary Payton's 6-for-25 performance and Minnesota's lack of cohesion down the stretch.

But Garnett called the reversal of Payton's second technical foul at the end of the first quarter "the most terrible call I've ever seen since I've been in the league.''

And upon further review, Wolves coach Flip Saunders said before Wednesday night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers he was most irritated because the officials fibbed about it.

"When you're a referee, all you really have is your word,'' Saunders said. "When a referee comes and lies to you and says 'I didn't call a double technical' and you look on ESPN, I mean, everybody's got cable TV and you can look at the referee and see what was said. So I think I was more irate by that situation ? and they take his technical away, but we still get one.''

To review: With 23.5 seconds left in the first quarter of Tuesday's game, Payton and Wolves guard Anthony Peeler exchanged words while setting up for an inbounds play. Referee Michael Smith didn't like something he heard, blew his whistle and bellowed "double technical!'' But after being reminded by lead official Tom Washington ? and Payton ? that Payton already had one technical, Smith reversed the technical on Payton and let Peeler's stand.