Wolves record: 4-14
Playing their third road game in five days, the Timberwolves looked like a tired team, starting sluggishly and never waking up in their worst loss of the season, a 113-84 stomping by the New Jersey Nets Friday night.
That ended an 0-3 road trip for Minnesota (4-14), which has lost four straight and dropped to 3-6 since owner Glen Taylor gave coach Randy Wittman a vote of confidence.
This latest loss and losing streak might not change that, but vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale, who was along for the entire ugly trip, could not have liked what he saw.
From the Associated Press:
Al Jefferson added 17 points for Minnesota, and Craig Smith, Sebastian Telfair and Rashad McCants each had 12. The Timberwolves have dropped four straight to fall to 4-14.
The Nets took charge early, leading by 17 in the opening minutes of the second quarter. The Timberwolves battled back to trim the Nets advantage to 50-41 at the half.
“That’s a team we could beat, if we had played hard for 48 minutes,” Foye said. “When we didn’t want them to score, they didn’t score. We still could have gave the effort. We didn’t, not at all. You’ve got to bring it. You can’t use three games in five nights [on the road] as an excuse. We’re all professional players. We’ve been through this before.”
The Wolves — playing without injured Mike Miller and Corey Brewer — were outscored 63-43 in the second half and allowed the Nets a season-high 14 three-pointers after coach Randy Wittman had said before the game “you’re hoping and praying” New Jersey’s perimeter shooters aren’t knocking down their three-point shots if guard Devin Harris and Carter break down the defense…
Foye criticized his team’s effort. Wittman didn’t.
“The effort is there,” said Wittman, whose team had 17 assists and 16 turnovers.
7 Minutes for Wolves starting point guard Kevin Ollie