Wizards Victorious in Battle of Injury-Plagued Teams

¹²³ · Mar 10, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS – Despite yet another player of the Washington Wizards sitting out last night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Wizards were able to take home the win, 110-99, in a matchup between two of the lowest teams on the totem pole in the league.

Mike James was sidelined due to the flu for Washington as Javaris Crittenton stepped in in his place to start his second career NBA game. Add James to a list of players who are out that already includes Gilbert Arenas, Brendan Haywood, Etan Thomas, DeShawn Stevenson and Oleksiy Pecherov.

Caron Butler, who just returned from the injury list himself after missing three straight games, topped the Wizards in scoring for the night with 27 points and 10 rebounds while grabbing his 800th career steal. Antawn Jamison contributed 26 points, Darius Songaila 19 and Dominic McGuire 10.

Having trailed until the 9:48 mark of the third quarter, Minnesota grabbed their first lead of the night, 53-51, when Ryan Gomes sank a 17 ft. field goal after connecting on five points on the previous two plays. But Jamison exploded late in the third quarter to answer immediately with 10 of his total 26 points to give the Wizards back their lead, 79-73, to head into the fourth quarter.

In an unfortunate turn, the Timberwolves lost another player to injury, Randy Foye, who left the game with a sprained right ankle during the fourth quarter as his team was never able to close the gap to try for the come-from-behind win.

All five Minnesota starters rounded out the night with double-digit scoring as Gomes and Sebastian Telfair each scored 18 points to lead their team. Kevin Love and Miller each scored 16 and Foye scored 15 before exiting the game.

Last night’s win snaps a five-game losing streak that the Wizards embarked on in the past few weeks, a four-game road losing streak, and gives the team their 15th win this season.

Minnesota, without leading scorer Al Jefferson who is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL, have lost 10 in a row and 11 straight games at home and are just a little bit better than the 15-49 Washington season record at 18-45.

The Timberwolves shot 31.8 percent from behind the arc, only connecting on seven of 22 attempts.

The win is certainly a boost as the Wizards head back to Washington, D.C. for a three-game home stretch that includes New Orleans, Orlando and Sacramento over the course of the next five days.
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Wizards Victorious in Battle of Injury-Plagued Teams

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