Wolves record: 1-8
The Timberwolves led by nine points with 6:25 remaining Sunday night at Pepsi Center and lost their eighth consecutive game, 90-84 to a Denver team that mostly has refused to lose since newly acquired Chauncey Billups arrived.
For the second consecutive evening, the Wolves were beaten down the stretch by a former Timberwolf — OK, so Portland’s Brandon Roy wore Minnesota blue for a matter of minutes, Billups for two seasons — and by their own miscues, which turned toward the unique this time, 18 days after they last won.
Al Jefferson had 20 points for the Wolves, who still haven’t won since the Oct. 29 season opener against Sacramento and will be home Wednesday to face Philadelphia.
If there was a turning point in this one, it came with 5:40 to play, when Jefferson was whistled for a foul and a technical on a missed dunk by Kenyon Martin with Minnesota sitting on a 78-72 lead.
“We have to close a quarter out,” Wittman said. “It’s those little thing that you have to take care of. Kevin missed two point-blank layups. They go down and Chauncey (Billups) hits a pull-up three. Those baskets, you’ve got to have. You don’t make it, they do. That’s where it really changed. You keep the lead there and then you push it in the fourth and it’s 15, now it’s 16 and the pressure’s on them. We gave away seven points in two minutes. That’s where the tide turned on us a little bit.”
BTW, the eight-game losing streak matches the longest from last year’s miserable season. That started Dec. 22 at New Orleans and continued until they beat Miami at home on Jan. 8.
From the Associated Press:
Karl, who said he started 2-19 when he began his NBA coaching career with Cleveland in 1984, empathizes with the struggling Timberwolves.
“Minnesota’s probably has had five games similar to that and can’t close the door,” he said. “I’m glad we got the win, but I hope Randy figures out how to get a win and get some confidence back with his team.”
The Timberwolves (1-8) have played ample close games this season. Still, they’re a team that has lost eight straight and have a coach, Randy Wittman, who figures to be cringing any time he sees the number of the owner or general manager come up on his Caller ID.
Still, the Timberwolves, who shot 39.7 percent, led throughout much of the second half.
“We might sound like a broken record to everybody, but we still believe,” Timberwolves guard Randy Foye said.
6 Minutes for Sebastian Telfair, who played the first five minutes and then didn’t appear again until the final seconds after the outcome was already decided.
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