John Wall's overshadows Kevin Love’s heroics as Washington Wizards beat the Minesssota Timberwolves 103-96
Trevor Booker hardly played for two minutes in the first half before sickness forced him into the locker room. When he returned in the second stanza he made all the difference.
With 5:24 remaining to play and the Minnesota Timberwolves leading by 85-84, Booker rammed the Wolves ring on three consecutive possessions that completely changed the course of the game. The Wizards completely cast a magical spell on their opponents after that and eventually took over the night with a 103-96 decision. The game was played at the Verizon Center, Washington, DC on Saturday night.
Post game Booker admitted to have even surprised himself.
"It was real tough," Booker said. "I didn't know if I was going to make it or not. Most of the minutes in the fourth quarter, I was hurting but I fought through it."
Booker finished with seven points and seven rebounds. John Wall's nearly scored a triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists as Washington snapped their seven-game losing streak Andray Blatche contributed outstanding 20 points with seven rebounds. The Wizards defeated the Timberwolves at their home court in their last seven meeting.
"Coach said whoever is guarding (Love), try and box him out and let everybody else try and rebound," Wall said. "Tonight I keyed in on rebounding and helping out the bigs."
Minnesota’s All-Star forward Kevin Love scored 20 points and gathered 21 rebounds as he marked his 50th consecutive double-double of the season. Eleven of Love's rebounds came in the third quarter, when Minnesota used a 14-1 run to take a nine-point lead, the largest margin of the game. It was his third in a row game and 11th of the season in which he scored at slightest 20 points and 20 rebounds.
Love is now only one double-double shy of eclipsing Mosses Malone’s feat of 52 double-doubles in 1978-79.
Minnesota started the game positively and scored 29-25 in the first quarter of the game. In the second quarter, the home team showed their energy, and at the end of first half they got a 51-49 lead.
In the third quarter of the game Timberwolves scored 23-17, which again boosted the home team and they slapped the visiting side in the final quarter by 35-24, which took over the struggling Timberwolves by 103-96
Love performance put up Minnesota 85-84 prior to Booker's sudden occurrence, with the absolute two dunks coming on offensive rebounds.
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