Washington Wizards Play To Level Of Competition, Lose To Minnesota Timberwolves

At least the Washington Wizards keep it consistent. All year they have shown that they could compete with the best of the best in the NBA. The flip side, they normally come out flat against the mediocre to sub par teams. It’s a trend that continued tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

There is no excuse for losing to a team minus three starters, one being the team’s best player in Kevin Love.  The Timberwolves were missing their entire starting front court and still beat the Wizards. The Wizards had the advantage in almost every statistical category except turnovers but numbers don’t tell the whole story. The Timberwolves appeared to be quicker to the ball and just wanted the game more than the Wizards, playing without Bradley Beal.

It’s hard to beat anyone when you turn the ball over 24 times and that is exactly what the Wizards did. The four players who have the ball in their hands the most on the team; John Wall, Nene, Trevor Ariza, and A.J. Price, turned the ball over 20 of the 24 times. Even with Beal they can’t afford to turn the ball over that many times and expect to win no matter who the opponent is.

This team needs to figure out a way to get up for every opponent. They aren’t good enough to beat mediocre teams off of talent alone. That is one of the things that they have to improve upon as a team if they ever plan on taking the next step from competitive to actually making the playoffs.