Wolves record: 4-12
Jason Richardson scored 25 points in another strong performance after being sidelined with knee trouble, leading the suddenly efficient Bobcats to a 100-90 win over the error-prone Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night…
Randy Foye scored 23 points and Mike Miller added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota, which was never in sync in its second straight loss.
Coach Randy Wittman pointed to 14 first-half turnovers (17 in all) as a key to the game. Center Al Jefferson, held under double figures in scoring for the first time this season with eight points, agreed.
“Our turnovers in the first half were just dumb turnovers,” Wittman said. “We just made dumb decisions with the ball. In the second half, we took care of the ball. The first-half turnovers were just unnecessary. There’s no excuse for those.”
Jefferson had a similar review of his 3-for-11 shooting performance, but he gave some credit to the Bobcats, who frustrated him with the same kind of mock-trapping defense he has seen in the past three games.
By the third quarter, Wolves coach Randy Wittman made little-used veteran Brian Cardinal his first player off the bench and turned to Kevin Ollie, just back from six games away because of a calf injury, to run the offense for 10 minutes.
“I’ve got to find some guys — and probably some veteran guys — on this team who are going to follow the game plan and do what we want done,” Wittman said. “You can’t do it selectively.”
The Wolves look awfully un-athletic, even against a Charlotte team that isn’t the most athletic in the league, and will be even more so with Brewer out for the season. Rodney Carney, the best athlete left probably, played six minutes.
Kevin McHale is along on this trip, too. That’s two in a row for him. When asked why he’s out on the road with the team, he stammered a bit and said he just wants to be closer to the guys.
6 Jefferson’s career-high blocked shots.