"I say we win the game by 15 to 20," Telfair said. "And we didn't."

A feisty New Orleans bench overtook the Wolves, and Al Jefferson was lost in the final seconds to a right knee injury. New Orleans won 101-97 to hand Minnesota its sixth loss in the past seven games.

Jefferson crashed to the floor after a defensive possession with 27.2 seconds remaining. He was vying for a ball with New Orleans center Sean Marks, and he came down with his right leg on the inside of Marks' right foot. Jefferson's knee appeared to twist on impact. He tried to get up and walk but went back down to the court, holding his knee with both hands, grimacing and rocking back and forth.

His first thought?

"You think the worst all the time," Jefferson said.

He added: "Yeah. I felt a pop. Nothing like it was last time; I couldn't put pressure on it last time. It makes me feel a lot better" that he could put some pressure on it afterward.

Jefferson said he would wait to see how his knee feels this morning but probably will get a magnetic resonance imaging exam regardless. Jefferson has provided the lion's share of the Wolves' production in the paint, and it would be a huge loss if he is out for any period of time.

Coach Kevin McHale was terse and said he didn't know much about how badly the knee was injured. He didn't want to think about losing Jefferson.

"You never feel good when you see anyone go down," McHale said. "I hope he's OK; we'll see how he feels tomorrow. ... I guess we'll find out tomorrow."

Minnesota (17-33) still had a chance at the end to win without Jefferson.

New Orleans' Devin Brown was driving on Telfair with the Wolves up by one. Telfair swiped at the ball, wresting it out of Brown's hands, but Marks ended up with the ball and a free dunk for a 97-96 Hornets lead with 7.9 seconds remaining.

"I got my hand on the ball, it just popped out and into Marks' hand, and he dunked the ball," Telfair said. "That's the kind of breaks that you get when you are winning games and when you are losing games. I feel like when you are losing games, you don't get those kinds of breaks. When you win games, you get those breaks."

Telfair missed a connection with Mike Miller on a cross-court pass, and from there, the Hornets (30-18) wrapped up the victory at the free-throw line. Rasual Butler led the Hornets with 23 points.

"The fact that we had a layup, the fact that me and Mike misread each other, that's a losing possession right there," Telfair said. "I'm very disappointed."

And again, a spectacular Jefferson performance was wasted. One night removed from scoring 36 points and grabbing 22 rebounds in a loss Saturday to Houston, Jefferson scored 25 points with 14 rebounds for his 30th double-double this season.

"We had some chances; we just couldn't get over the hump," McHale said. "We had a lead there; I thought Sebastian played great defense, the ball squirts out of his hands. Marks got a dunk, and from there we kind of had to play a little bit of the foul game after we missed."

New Orleans gained its first lead since the first quarter when Brown hit two free throws for an 85-83 edge with 7:13 left.

The Hornets moved ahead again with 1:13 remaining when Marks made two free throws for a 94-92 lead. Marks, who had 18 points and five rebounds, also affected the Wolves' offense. The Hornets doubled down on Jefferson, forcing the kick-out passes, and Minnesota didn't make enough shots from the outside to remain ahead.

"Well, they played well," McHale said. "Marks made some big shots for them, got his hands on some balls around the rim and made some plays for them."

A heavy mood permeated in the Minnesota locker room following the game, and it wasn't just about the loss. The prospect of life without Jefferson doesn't look pretty.

Jefferson was huge Sunday, helping the Wolves exploit a weak Hornets interior in the first half for a 52-49 halftime lead. New Orleans came in without Chandler, the center who has missed the past 10 games with a sprained ankle, and point guard Paul, who missed his third consecutive game because of a strained groin.

The result?

The Timberwolves dominated the paint in the first quarter. Jefferson scored 11 of his 14 first-half points in the first quarter, powering the Wolves to a 31-24 lead. Kevin Love chipped in eight points, and Minnesota finished with 18 paint points to New Orleans' 12. The Wolves also owned an 11-5 rebounding advantage.

West heightened the Hornets' inside woes when he shoved Mike Miller to the floor from behind, inducing a flagrant foul 2 call from officials. There are two degrees of flagrant fouls, and the second variety results in an immediate ejection. West, who scored nine points, exited with 1:53 left in the second quarter.

The loss of West didn't have an immediate impact. In fact, New Orleans negated the disadvantage by sinking some perimeter shots to slice a nine-point deficit to one point with less than 45 seconds left before halftime. Antonio Daniels, a recent trade pickup for the Hornets, nailed a pull-up jump shot that cut the Wolves' lead to 50-49.

Telfair swiftly answered, hitting an outside jumper of his own for a 52-49 Minnesota lead that held to halftime.

New Orleans nearly evened the paint mismatch by the end of the third quarter, reducing the margin to 32-30. By the end of the game, the Wolves had only a 38-36 edge.

"We had some looks at it, (but) we didn't get that next shot," McHale said.

Briefly: Ryan Gomes has a thing for the road. He entered Sunday's game averaging 15.5 points per game on 47.7 percent shooting in his past 10 road starts. He scored 21 and shot 57 percent from the field Sunday. At home? Gomes averages 9.5 points on 36.4 percent shooting at Target Center.

Jefferson is inching closer to the 5,000-point milestone with 72 points to go. Not bad considering he scored his 4,000th point Nov. 21 against Boston.

Sunday's game was the second time the Wolves have faced an injury-depleted Hornets squad this season. In the previous meeting Jan. 23, West and Chandler were out with injuries.