Down 19 in the second quarter, ahead six points with little more than five minutes left, the Wolves lost their fifth straight and eighth of nine games (after winning 12 of their previous 16) to a Washington team that brought the league’s second-worst record into Verizon Center tonight.

Craig Smith made his return after two weeks’ away because of that cracked rib. He played 17-plus minutes and wore a protective vest that he said grew heavier and more cumbersome as he sweated and the game progressed.

Randy Foye made one of his first nine shots, then made eight of his final 12 and led the Wolves in scoring for the second straight time in the second straight game without Al Jefferson, this time with 23 points.

Mike Miller’s 18 points were the most he has scored since a 19-point game at Charlotte on Dec. 1.

Kevin McHale planned to text Big Al after the game to offer his support before Wednesday’s surgery to repair that torn ACL in New York City.

The Wolves flew to Miami after the game and play the Heat Wednesday night. The Wolves and Kevin Love get their second look in eight days at Jermaine O’Neal, who scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for Toronto a week ago and now will make his Miami debut after Friday’s trade that sent Shawn Marion to Canada and brought O’Neal to South Beach.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 1:14 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.