MINNEAPOLIS – The hard-driving Phoenix Suns finally ran out of gas.

The magnificent Suns’ offense fell flat in the second half and Al Jefferson tied a career-high with 32 points to go with 20 rebounds to carry the success-starved Minnesota Timberwolves to a 100-93 victory on Saturday night.

The Timberwolves entered the game with a league-worst 2-15 record, but dominated on the boards and snapped a five-game losing streak.

Marko Jaric added 19 points and Craig Smith had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Wolves, who outrebounded Phoenix 55-33.

Steve Nash had 14 points and 15 assists and Leandro Barbosa scored 16 of his 17 points in the first half for the Suns, who wore down in the second game of a back-to-back and their fourth game in five nights.

Phoenix shot 58 percent in the first half to take a 56-55 lead, but hit just 32.5 percent in the second half to let the game slip away.

The game was eerily similar to the last Wolves victory in this series, which came on Jan. 29 of last season. Kevin Garnett scored 44 points to almost singlehandedly snap the Suns’ 17-game winning streak.

Garnett, of course, was traded to Boston in the offseason, with Jefferson the headliner of a seven-player package that came to Minnesota.

The comparisons will always be unfair, but Jefferson was KG-like on Saturday night.

He scored 10 straight points in a 10:33 stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters. Jefferson was 13-for-26 from the field, and the Suns didn’t have anything left in the tank to match him.

The 93 points were a season low for the high-powered Suns, who once again have been lighting up the NBA.

It’s no surprise to see the Suns running and gunning Wild Wild West style again this season, but this recent stretch was impressive even by their pedal-to-the-metal standards.

Phoenix entered the game averaging 124.3 points per game in their last three, numbers that would make even Lafayette Lever and those shoot-first, ask-questions-later Denver Nuggets teams of the 1980s jealous.

They had topped 110 points in eight of their last nine, and looked to be on their game early on Saturday night.

Nash had seven assists in the first quarter, leading a layup line for the Suns on their way to the Wolves basket. Minnesota hasn’t shown a whole lot of interest in playing interior defense this season, and Nash found Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire and Barbosa for layups and dunks throughout the first half.

Yet even while allowing the Suns to shoot 58 percent and roll up 56 points in the first half, the young Timberwolves hung right with them.

Jefferson had 18 points and nine rebounds in the first 24 minutes and the Wolves pounded the offensive glass to keep things close.

And in a season in which these Wolves always seem to fade down the stretch, they saved their best play for last in this one.

They closed the third period with a 14-4 run and held the Suns to a season-low 37 points in the second half to close out an improbable victory.

Notes: Timberwolves G Greg Buckner was deactivated with a calf strain and Antoine Walker (ankle) did not dress. … It was ’70s night at Target Center and Wolves radio color analyst Billy McKinney was looking sharp in a leisure suit and the Sugarhill Gang performed during halftime. … Nash had at least 14 assists for the sixth straight game. … Stoudemire scored 16 and was held under 25 points for the first time in five games.

AP-ES-12-08-07 2234EST