Trail Blazers continue their six-game journey against wizards

WASHINGTON – The Portland Trail Blazers are visiting the Washington Wizards on Sunday to try 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 going 112-96 to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.

Minnesota never trailed and drove Portland (10-5) with 24 points.

Portland made 18 turnovers that earned him 22 points in Minnesota and 28% over a distance of 3 points (8 of 29). Minnesota shot 50% of the field and had six double-digit men.

"We gave them too many opportunities, whether giving the ball or giving the ball on an offensive rebound," coach Blazers Terry Stotts told the Oregonian. "We dug the hole in the first half, basically, because of that."

Trail Blazers playmaker Damian Lillard has 16 points and five assists, but made only 5 of 18 shots on the court and made five turnovers.

"The ball is in my hands a lot and the team is counting on me to take care of the ball and make sure we get quality goods," he told the Oregonian. "And I have not done a great job in this area, sometimes the games go that way."

CJ McCollum had 18 points on 8 of the 16 shots and Jusuf Nurkic had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. Portland missed 6 of 20 free throws.

Wizards (5-10) saw their late-three-game playoff win Friday night with a 115-104 loss to Brooklyn Nets visitors.

The Nets, playing their second game without leading scorer Caris Levert, broke a tight game in the third quarter and led by the greatest number 19 in the fourth.

The Wizards grant 116.7 points per game, the second largest in the NBA.

"We had some bad turnovers. Some of the turnarounds led to essentially a zero on breaks, "coach Scott Brooks Sorcerers said. "It has nothing to do with performance, and everything to do with being mentally ready to make the next pass and the next game."

Dwight Howard led the Wizards with 25 points and 17 rebounds, while he only played 27 minutes before falling in the fourth quarter.

Bradley Beal scored 20 points and Kelly Oubre added 18 for the Wizards. John Wall finished with 16 points on 16 shots and seven assists.

"We just have to bounce back," Brooks said. "We have won three of our last four and we hope to be able to come back with more intensity on basketball. The Portland goalkeepers are very good. "

The Brooklyn Reserves dominated the Washington bench 56-31.

The Wizards scored 3 out of 17 from outside the bow against the best defenders of the NBA against 3-point shooting.

"I think we need to play a little faster," said Beal. "A lot of our 3s we are getting in transition. So, stop, go out in transition and get easy shots. Do a better job in our half-court sets, so more cuts and screening, and be ready at all times.

"We have to be a lot more aggressive, I think sometimes we just get too many jumpers, so we have to go to basket."

A 12-0 record from the Nets was 72-61 midway through the third quarter and Brooklyn led 91-79 after three quarters. Spencer Dinwiddie's 3-point game started a 8-0 run that 103-84 with 8:48 remaining.