Trail Blazers continue six-game trip against Wizards
WASHINGTON -- The Portland Trail Blazers visit the Washington Wizards on Sunday looking to end a two-game losing streak.
The Trail Blazers, who had won four straight games before starting to skid, dropped the opener of a six-game road trip 112-96 to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Minnesota never trailed and led Portland (10-5) by as many as 24 points.
Portland committed 18 turnovers that led to 22 Minnesota points and shot 28 percent from 3-point range (8 of 29). Minnesota shot 50 percent from the field and had six men in double figures.
"We just gave them too many opportunities, either giving up the ball or giving the ball back on an offensive rebound," Blazers coach Terry Stotts told the Oregonian. "We dug the hole in the first half, basically, because of that."
Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard had 16 points and five assists but made just 5 of 18 shots from the field and committed five turnovers.
"The ball is in my hands a lot and the team counts on me to take care of the ball and make sure that we get quality possessions," he told the Oregonian. "And I didn't do a great job of that. Sometimes games go that way."
CJ McCollum had 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting and Jusuf Nurkic had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. Portland missed 6 of 20 free throws.
The Wizards (5-10) saw their three-game winning streak end Friday night with a 115-104 loss to the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets, playing their second game without leading scorer Caris LeVert, broke open a close game in the third quarter and led by as many as 19 in the fourth.
The Wizards are allowing 116.7 points per game, second most in the NBA.
"We had some bad turnovers. Some of the turnovers led to basically one-on-zero breaks," Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. "Has nothing to do with execution, and everything to do with mentally being ready to make the next pass and the next play."
Dwight Howard led the Wizards with 25 points and 17 rebounds despite playing only 27 minutes before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Bradley Beal scored 20 points and reserve Kelly Oubre added 18 for the Wizards. John Wall finished with 16 points on 6-of-19 shooting and had seven assists.
"We have to just bounce back," Brooks said. "We won three out of our last four and hopefully we can come back with better intensity on the basketball. Portland's guards are pretty good."
Brooklyn's reserves outscored Washington's bench 56-31.
The Wizards made 3 of 17 from beyond the arc against the NBA's best defenders against the 3-point shot.
"I think we've got to play a little bit faster," Beal said. "A lot of our 3s we get in transition. So, getting stops, getting out in transition and getting easy shots. Doing a better job in our half-court sets, so more cuts and screening and just being ready at all times.
"We've got to be a lot more aggressive. I think sometimes we settle for too many jumpers, so getting to the basket more."
A 12-0 Nets run made it 72-61 midway through the third quarter and Brooklyn led 91-79 after three quarters. Spencer Dinwiddie's 3-point play kicked off an 8-0 run the made it 103-84 with 8:48 remaining.
