WASHINGTON -- The Washington Wizards ended 2016 rolling but started 2017 running uphill, which is the direction the young Minnesota Timberwolves traveled most of the season as the teams meet Friday.
The Wizards (16-18) won nine of 12 games to reach. 500, but lost their chance for a winning record with a 101-91 loss at the Houston Rockets Monday night. Falling to one of the top NBA teams on the road is one thing. Losing 113-105 to a 10-win Dallas Mavericks team as they did the following night is something else.
"Well, I thought we got outworked, and I haven't said that a lot this year with our team," Wizards coach Scott Brooks said.
Dallas shot 17 of 32 from beyond the 3-point arc and outscored Washington 26-17 in the fourth quarter.
"They were moving the ball, and we were hoping that they would miss, and not doing a very good job of making them miss," Brooks said.
Guards John Wall, who was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December, and Bradley Beal combined for 52 points. Washington returns home where its won eight in a row hoping the clumsy Texas two-step doesn't derail any overall growth.
"No not at all, definitely a learning experience," reserve forward Kelly Oubre Jr. said. "Gotta come back and play harder, smarter, and get back to what we were doing in 2016. It's just two games, we'll get back on track. We have a two game home stand, all the momentum will come back once we get home."
The Timberwolves (11-24) aim for a win away from home after falling 93-91 at the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night. The young squad's latest setback came in the closing moments as Robert Covington's jumper off an inbounds pass with 0.2 seconds remaining gave the 76ers the win.
"We wanted the ball to go away from the basket. That didn't happen," Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau said. "We needed some help on the curl, and we didn't get it."
Minnesota dropped five of its last seven games.
Zach LaVine scored 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 23 against Philadelphia, but they didn't get much help from leading scorer Andrew Wiggins. The small forward had eight points -- 13 below his average -- on 2 of 15 shooting.
Both teams have electric perimeter players, but also threats inside. Wizards center Marcin Gortat (12.0) and Towns (11.6) rank among the top 10 in rebounding.
Minnesota's starters play more minutes than any team in the league followed by Washington.
Both teams won on the road in this series last season with Minnesota claiming a 132-129 victory in double-overtime on March 25 as Towns scored 27 points.
