MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin Love landed hard on his hip after a foul late in the game. His head snapped back from the impact and hit the floor. The All-Star power forward was all right afterward, a relief for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The win over the languishing Los Angeles Lakers was nice, too. Love had 31 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves to 109-99 victory on Tuesday that spoiled Steve Nashs return and stuck the Lakers with their seventh straight defeat. "I just want to continue to keep playing and give this team all that I can," Love said. "Yeah, Ive taken a physical beating, but youve got to expect being one of the top guys that theyre going to come at you." Kevin Martin helped the Timberwolves get off to a fast start, scoring 14 of his season-high-tying 32 points in the opening 10 minutes as the NBAs highest-scoring first-quarter team surged to a 25-point lead midway through the second period. They stumbled some after halftime, letting the Lakers pull within seven points early in the fourth quarter. "Its just one of those things where the game isnt going to be as easy as you think," coach Rick Adelman said. "You just have to persevere." With Nikola Pekovic likely out through the All-Star break, the Wolves started a difficult week, a theme of Adelmans pregame message. They play at Oklahoma City on Wednesday and New Orleans on Friday before hosting Portland on Saturday, a crucial stretch for a team running out of time to climb back into the playoff picture. But Love picked up the Wolves and carried them to an important win, playing the part of the burly Pekovic by throwing his body at the basket as often as he could. He made it to the line for 18 free throws, making 13. "We realize how good he is. He has incredible toughness," Martin said, adding: "He gets dirty down there. Thats why we pay him the big bucks and thats why hes an All-Star starter, to do things like that." Nash had been sidelined since Nov. 10 because of nerve problems in his back. The soon-to-be-40-year-old two-time league MVP had seven points and nine assists in 25 minutes, about 10 more than he was supposed to play. "I feel a bit selfish in that we lost but it felt great just to play in the NBA again," Nash said, smiling. "Obviously the game didnt go as we hoped, but for me personally thats pretty cool to be back out there." Coach Mike DAntoni was pleased. "I thought he competed, and weve got to have everybody compete that way," DAntoni said. Steve Blake also returned, coming back from a torn ligament in his right elbow that had shelved him since Dec. 10. He ruptured his eardrum during the game but kept playing on another night of bad luck and bad defence for the fallen franchise. Blake was scoreless in 31 minutes and took only two shots. Fittingly, as soon as two guys came back, two more went out. Jodie Meeks (sprained right ankle, first quarter) and backup Jordan Hill (headache and neck strain, first quarter) were hurt for the Lakers, who have been without star Kobe Bryant for most of the season. Pau Gasol also sat out with a strained right groin and could be out until after the All-Star break. DAntoni said Meeks wont play the rest of the road trip at Cleveland on Wednesday or at Philadelphia on Friday. Hill was walking stiffly in the locker room after the game but was held out as a precaution, the coach said. "I just feel for those guys. I just was in their position," Blake said. "Unfortunately its a part of the game, and the rest of us have to pick it up." The Lakers reserves had a whopping 70 points, with Nick Young (24 points), Manny Harris (17 points) and former Timberwolves first-round draft pick Wes Johnson (15 points and nine rebounds) leading the way. But the Lakers still lost for the 19th time in their last 22 games and fell into a tie for last place in the Western Conference with Utah and Sacramento. This was also their first loss at Target Center in almost seven years, ending an 11-game run. NOTES: This was the league-high seventh time this season that Love had at least 30 points and 15 rebounds. He has 25 for his career, one more than Kevin Garnett on the franchises career list. ... The Lakers have allowed 100-plus points in 15 straight games, their longest such streak since 17 in a row during the 1986-87 season. Cheap Jordan From China . This time, Tebow was in a groove the entire second half -- not just in the waning minutes -- and his teammates on defence were getting gobbled up. Wholesale Air Jordan . They are back to a game above .500 on the year and back to .500 on the road. It was their 10th extra time game of the year, and only the second one that did not got to a shootout. https://www.wholesalejordanshoeschina.com/. Toronto announced the deal with the restricted free agent on Saturday. The terms were not disclosed. Cheap Retro Jordan . Berkman almost left the game last off-season before signing with the Texas Rangers. He then had another injury-plagued season and was limited to 73 games. Air Jordan 19 For Sale . Riethers apparent stamp on Manchester United midfielder Adnan Januzaj during Saturdays Premier League match at Craven Cottage was missed by the match officials. A three-man panel of former referees reviewed the incident and all agreed that it was a sending-off offence.RICHMOND, Va. -- Kevin Harvick pulled away on a restart with 47 laps to go and ended Chase Elliotts two-race winning streak in NASCARs Nationwide Series with a dominating victory early Saturday at Richmond International Raceway. Harvick led 202 of the 250 laps in a race delayed nearly 3 1/2 hours at the start by rain Friday night. The victory was the 41st of his career in the series, and his record-extending seventh at 0.75-mile Richmond. Elliott, the Georgia high-schooler and son of racing great Bill Elliott, was looking to win his third consecutive race and pad his points lead, but managed to do just the latter when Harvick was too fast. "I think he just outdrove me a little bit, honestly" Elliott said. "Some of it was me. I kind of let him get too far out in front of me." The pair finished nearly seven seconds ahead of third-place finisher Kyle Busch, and Harvick said Elliott, a teammate at JR Motorsports, has had a positive impact that helped produce the 1-2 finish. "He pushes us to be better by trying different things," Harvick said. "Hes as good as they get and a lot of fun to be around." Busch never really contended, but said his team made steady gains all race long. "The racing was sort of a struggle for us to start with," he saiid.dddddddddddd. Kyle Larson, awarded the pole for Saturdays Sprint Cup race based on practice speeds when qualifying for that race was rained out earlier Friday night, finished fourth, with pole-sitter Brian Scott fifth. Scott, the pole-sitter, led the first 239 laps here last September before getting passed by Brad Keselowski with 11 laps to go. Scott led the first 43 laps Friday night and stayed in the top 10 all night, but with Harvick repeatedly opening up huge margins, second place seemed like the prize at stake. Elliott took that away as the only car that could challenge Harvick at the end. The ending was tougher for Elliott Sadler, who had worked his way up to third with some nifty work by his pit crew, but when the race went back to green with 54 to go, he got turned around in Turn 2. It looked like Trevor Bayne nudged Regan Smith, who then nudged Sadler. The Emporia native finished sixth. Elliotts points lead grew from 13 to 19 over Smith, who finished eighth. The race also marked the Nationwide Series debut for Daniel Suarez, who has impressed in the K&N Pro Series East Tour. He drove for Joe Gibbs Racing, starting 12th and finishing 19th. Suarez also was schedule to return to race in Saturday reschedule K&N Pro Series East Tour race starting at 9 a.m. ' ' '