The Wizards came back strong following the NBA All Star break to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 111-103.
After the first quarter the Wizards were up by eleven points, 27-16, off the heavy scoring efforts of Antawn Jamison who had ten in the first quarter.
The Wizards managed to keep the lead going into the second quarter by shooting fifty percent from the field, compared to Minnesota’s thirty-seven percent.
Not to be outdone, Minnesota rallied in the third quarter with solid scoring from center Kevin Love, and forward Mike Miller that helped tie the game 76-76.
By the forth quarter Minnesota begin to pull ahead, at times by as many as six points, but the Wiz fought hard to make a comeback with the help of Javaris Crittenton's efforts that garnered eight points in the quarter.
Minnesota's Sabastian Telfair helped the Timberwolves take the lead, 101-100, with just a little over a minute left in the game by hitting a three-point shot from 25' out. Wizards' guard, Mike James answered back with two three-pointers to give the Wizards a 105-101 lead.
Andray Blatche, back in the lineup after being out several weeks with a left knee strain, helped clinch the win, making good on last second free throw attempts.
"This is a winning organization", said Blatche. "We're just going to come out and keep fighting and fighting, and getting better."
Antawn Jamison was the high scorer for the Wizards with 29 points. Minnesota’s Randy Foye finished with 23 points.
Interim coach, Ed Tapscott on the team's win:
"We’re happy to have it. It’s not elegant, but effective. I’ll start with effective; we’ll work on elegant later."
Tapscott attributed the win to “a lot of good efforts by a lot of guys”.
The the formula for tonight’s win? “Stops, crucial rebounds, efficiency on offense”, said coach Tapscott.
“If we can continue to do that, we can win some games.”
Wizards captain, Caron Butler (17 points on the evening) said of the win, "It feels good. This is exactly what I expected as a captain."
"The guys came out with a lot of energy and played good basketball, and that's the goal - to play .500 basketball throughout the [remaining] twenty eight games."
Butler went down late in the fourth quarter, landing on his left hip, throwing it out of alignment.
"Hopefully it will feel better tomorrow."
Caron and the Wizards have a couple days of rest before they face the Nets in New Jersey on Friday; and former teammate, Roger Mason, Jr. and the San Antonio Spurs at home this Saturday.
Wiz welcomed the All Star break.
The NBA All Star break gave the team a fresh start going into the second half of the season.
Several of the Wiz players admitted they weren’t present at this year’s All Star Game and welcomed the time away from basketball.
"I just spent time with my family", said forward, Dominic McGuire.
“It was good for me to go and spend time with the family, to get my mind off of basketball for a few days...just kind of turn the phone off to get away from everybody and everything”, said center Darius Songaila.
After the first quarter the Wizards were up by eleven points, 27-16, off the heavy scoring efforts of Antawn Jamison who had ten in the first quarter.
The Wizards managed to keep the lead going into the second quarter by shooting fifty percent from the field, compared to Minnesota’s thirty-seven percent.Not to be outdone, Minnesota rallied in the third quarter with solid scoring from center Kevin Love, and forward Mike Miller that helped tie the game 76-76.
By the forth quarter Minnesota begin to pull ahead, at times by as many as six points, but the Wiz fought hard to make a comeback with the help of Javaris Crittenton's efforts that garnered eight points in the quarter.
Minnesota's Sabastian Telfair helped the Timberwolves take the lead, 101-100, with just a little over a minute left in the game by hitting a three-point shot from 25' out. Wizards' guard, Mike James answered back with two three-pointers to give the Wizards a 105-101 lead.
Andray Blatche, back in the lineup after being out several weeks with a left knee strain, helped clinch the win, making good on last second free throw attempts.
"This is a winning organization", said Blatche. "We're just going to come out and keep fighting and fighting, and getting better."
Antawn Jamison was the high scorer for the Wizards with 29 points. Minnesota’s Randy Foye finished with 23 points.
Interim coach, Ed Tapscott on the team's win:
"We’re happy to have it. It’s not elegant, but effective. I’ll start with effective; we’ll work on elegant later."
Tapscott attributed the win to “a lot of good efforts by a lot of guys”.
The the formula for tonight’s win? “Stops, crucial rebounds, efficiency on offense”, said coach Tapscott.
“If we can continue to do that, we can win some games.”
Wizards captain, Caron Butler (17 points on the evening) said of the win, "It feels good. This is exactly what I expected as a captain."
"The guys came out with a lot of energy and played good basketball, and that's the goal - to play .500 basketball throughout the [remaining] twenty eight games."
Butler went down late in the fourth quarter, landing on his left hip, throwing it out of alignment.
"Hopefully it will feel better tomorrow."
Caron and the Wizards have a couple days of rest before they face the Nets in New Jersey on Friday; and former teammate, Roger Mason, Jr. and the San Antonio Spurs at home this Saturday.
Wiz welcomed the All Star break.
The NBA All Star break gave the team a fresh start going into the second half of the season.
Several of the Wiz players admitted they weren’t present at this year’s All Star Game and welcomed the time away from basketball.
"I just spent time with my family", said forward, Dominic McGuire.
“It was good for me to go and spend time with the family, to get my mind off of basketball for a few days...just kind of turn the phone off to get away from everybody and everything”, said center Darius Songaila.
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