Wizards down Wolves
Published 12:08 pm Wednesday, November 20, 2013
WASHINGTON — Bradley Beal scored 25 points, John Wall added 14 points and tied his career high with 16 assists, and the Washington Wizards beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-100 on Tuesday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
Martel Webster’s 3-pointer with 42 seconds to play gave the Wizards a 100-98 lead. Beal added two free throws with 12.9 seconds left to make it 102-98.
Webster had 17 points, including five 3-pointers.
Kevin Love led the Timberwolves with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Kevin Martin, who was averaging 24.4 points, was held to 11.
The Wizards took an 86-85 lead on Beal’s layup with 10:24 to play and held it until Martin’s two free throws tied it at 95 with 2:23 to play.
Wall hit a jumper with 1:26 to play to give Washington a 97-95 lead, but Martin, who had missed 12 of his first 15 field goals, made a 3-pointer and Minnesota pulled ahead 98-97 with 1:11 remaining.
Washington, which had lost seven of its first nine this season, tried the players-only meeting approach before Tuesday morning’s shootaround.
The Timberwolves began a brutal stretch of five games in seven days, their second of the season. Coach Rick Adelman said that he knew he had to play more than the eight men he’s been regularly using in the stretch.
Minnesota had won seven of its first 11. Adelman, a veteran of 23 seasons as an NBA coach, cautioned his team.
“I keep telling them they haven’t done anything yet,” he said before the game.
Adelman’s team started furiously. A 13-2 first-quarter run put them up by 10, and Love had 16 points by the end of the quarter with the Timberwolves ahead 34-27.