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The Washington Wizards took another vital loss, this time at the hands of Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who led all scorers with 37 points in the game.
The Wizards had entered the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead, but their defensive woes were glaring when handling Towns, who hurt them from all areas of the court, making 13 of his 17 attempts from the field.
“We got to get stops and we’ve got to stop worrying about scoring,” Wizards head coach Scott Brooks said, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.
Brooks' words have been echoed in recent practices and post-game meetings, as the Wizards have been more concerned with making up for John Wall's offensive prowess than containing teams down the stretch.
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“The ball needs to be stopped and then we have to have some rim protection,” Brooks added. “Whether you take a charge or put the guy on the free throw line or you block his shot, you got to do something instead of just watching it.”
Washington has lost the last two games, including six of their last 10, putting them 1.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers and giving them only one game of separation over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Forward Marcus Morris lauded Towns' versatility and made no excuses for the team's poor performance after the Minnesota big man put Marcin Gortat in foul trouble early, knocking down all of his eight free throws throughout the game.
“Inside, out. He’s strong enough to play against a five man and quick enough to drive and shoot threes,” Morris said of Towns. “He had a really good game tonight. We couldn’t control him. He kept them in it.”
