Kevin Love shines as Timberwolves sweep the Wizards 109-97
Kevin Love registered a game-high 35 points and 11 rebounds, as the Minnesota Timberwolves snapped a five-game losing streak, topping the Washington Wizards 109-97 at Target Centre on Thursday night. It was Kevin’s 26th straight double-double. He is only
the fifth player over the last 25 seasons to have a double-double in at least 26 straight games.
Darko Milicic contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds to keep the Wizards winless on the road.
Wizards Coach Flip Saunders expressed his disappointment after the defeat. He said "It's like Groundhog day.... We are working on things, and we will keep working, but we have a tendency to, when we are on the road and the other team makes a little bit of
a run, take a quick shot, and try to hit a home run. In addition, suddenly, we are playing from behind. They shot the heck out of it from three. We expected Love to be a handful, but he basically beat us from the 3-point line."
Luke Ridnour added 16 points and nine assists for the Timberwolves, who got their 10th win of the 2010-11 season. Wayne Ellington and Martell Webster ended with 11 points each in the home victory.
Rashard Lewis scored a team-high 19 points in the defeat. Kirk Hinrich came off the bench and posted 18 points for the Washington, who are 10-8 at home in 2010-11. Nick Young ended with 15 points on 5 of 14 shooting. Al Thornton and John Wall had 14 points
apiece for Wizards, who were playing without starting forward Andray Blatche.
Match Analysis
John Wall and the Wizards walked into the Target Centre in front of over 11,000 basketball fans, in the hope of achieving their first road victory of the 2010-11 season. Unfortunately, they were thwarted by an All-Star performance from Kevin Love.
Wizards forward Al Thornton expressed his frustration over the loss. He said, "We came into the game and felt like this was a team we should beat. It could have ended an 18- or 19-game losing streak, but we just did not close it out. That has been the story.
Getting down in the fourth quarter and just having problems closing games out. This is another game we had down the stretch. We just made careless mistakes."
Nerves were frayed, quality shots were played – and it didn’t take long for the Wolves to reacquire the old taste of bitter playoff disappointment. This 109-97 loss to the Wolves on Thursday was like an alarm clock shaking the Valley out of their sweet slumber.
In addition, Minnesota faces a new dilemma in the absence of the sizzling Michael Beasley.
In the opening quarter, the Wolves got going offensively and raced out to a big 28-18 lead into the second. Both teams started the second quarter with good offence and a strong defence. However, Minnesota managed to make it to the free throw line early,
to help build a quick 53- 48 lead by half time.
Minnesota extended their impressive play into the third quarter, as they were up by 10 points late in the quarter, taking an 82-78 lead into the final stanza. In the fourth quarter, Darko Milicic had a lay-up and Love hit a long three-point shot, to give
the Wolves a decisive 95-94 lead. At that point, the Wolves started a 19-1 run that slammed the door on Washington's hopes to end their road losing-streak.
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