Timberwolves Fall to Wizards 104-100

That was by far the worst loss of the season. I don't...it...that was awful.

After building a 12 point halftime lead, it all fell apart for the Wolves in the 2nd half, as they began turning the ball over, failing to run good offense, missing free throws, and completely abandoning the concept of transition defense.

You aren't getting a good or in depth recap on this one.

The Wolves started well, mostly thanks to hot shooting.  At halftime, they led by 12, and I said in the game thread the only problem was poor transition defense.

That failed to improve in the second half, while the Wolves shooting went south, The result was a 30-18 third quarter that left the game tied heading into the 4th.

One of the key plays of the game happened early in the fourth quarter, when the Wolves went up four points and forced a Wizards miss.  Unfortunately, J.J. Barea threw the ball away trying for the home run pass, the Wizards hit a transition three, and it sparked an 8-0 run.

A couple of minutes later, Pek made a sweeping, strong move to the basket, but missed a bunny, which was followed by two missed free throws from the big man later in the quarter. Kevin Love was not immune to the free throw problems, as he missed four of his nine attempts, including a crucial one late.

The Wolves would briefly retake the lead on a Kevin Martin three, but the Wizards answered with a Martell Webster three off a scramble situation. It was his 5th of the game in 10 attempts, and the Wolves would not recover. The Wizards, who were perfect from the line all night were able to close it out at the free throw line.

This was unquestionably the worst 2nd half execution we've seen all year. They just seemed confused and stagnant on the offensive end, and slow to react to the ball going the other way. Only the first half in the Cleveland loss matched the 2nd half tonight for ineptness, but blowing a 12 point lead in these circumstances is much more painful.

That's what I've got tonight.

What a let down.