Coming off an emotional loss to Miami Monday night when they only dressed nine players, the Minnesota Timberwolves will look to end a six game losing streak when John Wall and the Washington Wizards come to the Target Center. The Wizards won the first meeting in January 114-101 at the Verizon Center. Washington is coming off a 90-87 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Both teams are struggling this year, and need to start winning now if either team wants to make a run at the playoffs. Here are the keys to end the six game losing streak for Minnesota:
1) Contain the rookie
Washington's Bradley Beal, the No. 2 overall pick in last year's draft, has real come on strong recently. He has scored at least 20 points in five of his past nine games, including a 29-point effort last Friday against New York. It will be a struggle for Luke Ridnour and Alexey Shved to guard Beal. If Beal has a great game, it will be tough to beat the Wizards unless Minnesota has an unexpected great game from outside of Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams.
2) Win the rebounding battle
Washington's tandem of big men, Nene and Emeka Okafor, is a good pair and Minnesota's duo of Williams and Greg Stiemsma will have to at least match the Wizards' duo. Williams and Stiemsma are both not very good rebounders and in Williams' case, Okafor has a definite size advantage. It will be a tough matchup for Williams. Minnesota will have to rebound as a team. Rubio is a good rebounder for a point guard and will be even more important on the glass tonight.
3) The bench needs to produce
Last game against Miami, the bench shot just 34 percent. J.J. Barea is really struggling, and that was even before his altercation with Ray Allen. He shot just 1-for-11 against Miami. Alexey Shved actually had a nice game against the Heat, scoring 13, but that was his first game of more than five points since Feb. 22 against Oklahoma City. Minnesota needs Shved to produce more if it wants to be within striking distance for a playoff berth when Chase Budinger and Kevin Love return.
Prediction: Minnesota 88, Washington 85
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