jefferson. winners of three of last four, the wizards seem to have found confidence. a number have found their rhythm, including caron butler. tonight he leads washington into minnesota to take on a wolves team that is looking for their identity. wizards versus about timberwolves. >> the day after christmas finds washington at the target center. the wizards hope to find great cheer. they meet al jefferson and the 6-24 timberwolves. >> the team has gotten great play from the starters. you like the fact that they are starting to play much better ball. their shooting percentage has come up, especially caron butler, earlier in the year he was at 40% and now he is at 47%. against milwaukee the other night, he lead the team in scoring with 25 points, 10 rebounds, as well. he seeps to play well against milwaukee. you also have randy foye who has been playing well. he is coming back to a team that he played for for the first three years. he started four games, three resulted in wins he is starting to get his kneel and it's them. >> the timberwolves have struggled to a 6-24 record. three wins came from utah twice and denver. they have one of the best rookies in the league, jonny flynn. >> we have seen some great rookies, but flynn is right with them. he leads this team in assist department. he has a variety of ways he can hurt you. he has to cut down on the turnovers. that's been a problem. again he is one of these guys that can hurt new a variety of ways. he has help. al jefferson leads the team in kevin love has been setting the league on fire. he has been averaging over 14 rebounds a league. he would be leading the league for rebounds if he qualified for it. the wizards looking for their welcome home, man. >> steve: christmastime in minute. very familiar surrounding fourth new washington coach. that is the topic we have coming up for you. >> flip saunders returns to the place where he began his nba coaching career. a span that reached 13 years and had them winning almost 50% of his games. he was a high school all american in cleveland, ohio. he was ohio's player of the year. he played with great nba stars. he has spent nine years coaching with the timberwolves. his record as nba coach ranks near the top. our four have a higher winning percentage in their first 13 years. flip has been very successful. he hopes to bring that same success to the washington. tonight the wizards are going for their third consecutive win. we will have the opening tip right here on co anncr vo: ...call emergency services... anncr vo: ...collect accident information. anncr vo: or just watch some fun videos. anncr vo: it's so easy, a caveman can do it. caveman: unbelievable... caveman: where's my coat? it was suede with the fringe. vo: download the glovebox app free at geico.com. >> steve: nice cool night here at target center in minneapolis. it always is this time of year. but the wizards are warm. they have won two in a row, looking for their first three game win streak since the season before last. they will try to get it tonight against a struggling timberwolves club. that can grab a victory against >> steve: the head coach flip saunders who spent nearly 10 years in minneapolis taking them to the playoffs eight times. he has yet to lose at target center as an opposing coach. minnesota is 3-2 at home and 3- 12 on the road. thethe head coach for the timberwolves is kurt rambis. we are underway at target center. gilbert will take the first shot. the wizards come off an excellent win the other night in milwaukee, 109-97. their second straight. third in the last four games. flynn on the pick and roll jefferson for the jumper, a little strong. washington battling for the ball. gilbert is doing better. >> phil: he is doing a great job from the guard position. >> steve: flynn the rebound. first of two meetings between these teams. last year the wizards swept them two straight for the second consecutive year. washington has won four straight games overall and the last two here in minneapolis. >> phil: we have antawn jamison in his 12th year, lover love in his second year. i think similar players, they are not the biggest at the power forward position but they both rebound the ball extremely well. kevin love is averaging five offensive rebounds during the game. >> steve: brendan haywood scores on the dunk. the last time the wizards loss to this team was in 1997 here. here is love, pulls up for the jumper and hits. he has been extremely productive lately. >> phil: active is a better word for it. he sat out all of october and november. >> steve: gilbert has the rebound. arenas looking for some space. jamison will takes a 3-pointer and hit it. >> phil: each one of them has knocked down the shot. haywood has knocked down a three. 7-2, washington. as jonny flynn answers with a 3. his 28th of the season. averaging 14.5 points in his rookie year. gilbert will try the jumper and it's short. the ball is knocked out-of- bounds, wizards ball. how about your keys for tonight? >> phil: for both teams, the 4- 5, the power forward and center position, these teams have guys that can rebound well and score in the paint. you have washington going for the third time for their third consecutive win. minnesota gives up the second largest point differential, almost 10 per game. they have to improve in awe lot of areas. they have to get outside shooting. love and jefferson, their shooting has suffered at times. >> steve: that is eight straight points by minneapolis. and flip saunders wants time. the wizards were up 7- two, but the timberwolves have scored eight straight to take a 10-7 lead. kevin love has been outstandin >> phil: 8:49 in the first quarter. washington down by 3 after minnesota goes on an 8-3 run. kevin love has four of those points, he has been on a tear. if his numbers were to qualify, he would be the leading rebounder with offensive rebounds, almost five a game. >> steve: it has had five rebounds in 11 of the 12 games he has played in. he is averaging 14 points and almost 15 points a game. jamison for arenas who had aaron open jumper, instead he drives and laid it off the glass. >> phil: that's great control. he decided where he could get that job off easily. >> steve: all of the starters have scored, save for butler. >> phil: good job defensively by girth berth. >> steve: the shot rims and jamison is there. jamison lays it up and in. the wizards take the lead by 1. a technical foul has been called. i think >> steve: jumper no good, haywood the rebound. gilbert leads them downcourt after the free throw is made. arenas on a jump shot that's good and he is fouled. >> phil: he is playing with greatly control in this quarter. nice hesitation move right there. it caught corey brewer totally off guard. you can see the bump and the control. >> steve: his last five games, gilbert is averaging almost 30 points, 29.8. 6.6 assist stop sign and five rebounds plus flee 30-point performances. >> phil: if you look at the numbers over the past five, 10 games, the numbers are starting to go, especially in the shooting department. gilbert should have got that one, that was not a good pass by flynn. >> steve: the timberwolves have won two games against utah, once here and once in utah and have also beaten denver. gilbert up in the air for butler, nice fake, he drives and scores. >> phil: not only did he fake, he had al jefferson looking up at the basket looking for the shot. that inbe ability him to get to the rim. >> steve: the wizards are on a nine to one run. 6:20 to leave, first quarter, 16-11, washington. haywood with the offense rebound and looks to kick it out. nicely done. >> phil: that's his second offensive rebound. in the last five games, his numbers have dropped it off. >> steve: wide open, it's brewer and that's way off. fans somewhat displeased. gilbert takes a tough jumper and co the wolves won their first game here and then loss 15 straight before beating denver. they beat the kings and won over the nets on wednesday night. al jefferson comes out of the game. >> phil: they have won three of their last six. going for their first back-to- back wins tonight against washington. >> ryan hollins has checked in. this time butt the rebound. minute is struggling. foye gets it. >> phil: that was nearly picked off. >> steve: here is arenas for haywood. nice pass and antawn can't make the shot. good open jumper, the kind you like to get. flynn against foye, he looks at the shot clock, pulls the trigger and misses badly. butler is fouled from behind and gets the shot. >> phil: you have to give the defense enough time to deflect the ball and avoid getting the 2. >> steve: a timeout as minnesota has not made a field minnesota has not made a field goal in the last ♪ [ man #2 ] half the calories. all the g. 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[ woman #2 ] i know that's right. >> steve: the wizards lead the timberwolves 16-11. we were sorry to learn of the passing of our colleague george michael. he had the definitive word on our sports teams. he changed our expectations of what a sports cast on the news should be. i had the pleasure and challenge of competing with george on a nightly basis. george raised the bar to a standard that we all achieved. he is a good man and a talent. we will never forget you, george. >> steve: he was so good on the air, that whole news team became a part of your daily life. ryan gomes is in the game. a foul on caron. there is four minutes to play in the second quarter. w is on a 13-1 run. wilkins misses that, another rebound and misses that. gomes is there, he is fouled and he scores. >> phil: that was shear determination especially on the part of wilkins. he grabbed several rebounds in a crowd. you see oberto. >> steve: before that field goal, the timberwolves missed a beautiful pass. >> phil: i don't know if he saw oberto. you can see the two exchanging high 5's. >> steve: flynn goes in and scores easily. arenas nice move off the glass, couldn't get it to fall. ball on the floor and picked up by minnesota. here is wayne ellington for the long three, good. >> phil: ellington shoots very few 3s and makes even fewer. >> steve: randy foye with the jumper, is that right. the rebound by ryan gomes. oberto goes down, that leaves an extra player open, now it's a 10-2 run. >> phil: ryan hollins bold him bowled him over. >> steve: flynn lost it out of bounds. they will give the ball back to the timberwolves. >> phil: three different changes first and 8-0 run in the first part, washington went on a run, then it seems the momentum is switching back to minnesota. you see oberto right on the floor and that leaves a wide open dunk. >> steve: two minutes to play in the quarter. the lead has changed hands again and the wizards after leading by 7 find themselves down by 1. flynn nice pass to gomes. haywood tries to get it but he can't. ellington slips inside and now passes out to gomes and they flynn drives around arenas, reverse lay-up and no good. gil lays it off for haywood who has it stripped traveling will be called on ryan hollins. fortunately, washington, is extremely sloppy with the basketball right now. 21-20 timberwolves. wizards have made one of there last field goals. nick young will put one up but that's too strong. 1-9. ramon sessions in the game for minnesota, he hollins, nice move, couldn't get it to go. gomes is there, he missed it. the wizards come away with it. >> phil: they better do something real quick about the defensive boards. over the last five minutes,, minnesota has crashed the boards. >> steve: arenas, to jamison, a blocking foul is called on hollins. he was in the circle and that's why the contact when it occurred will be on hollins. >> phil: ryan hollins was caught inside that restricted area. >> steve: in three straight games against minnesota, antawn jamison has scored 20 or more points, averaged almost 26 points and over nine rebounds per game in those games. >> phil: guys have certain teams they enjoy playing against and they always seem to have success against them. i didn't want to say anything, but how good was jamison from the free-throw line against milwaukee. >> steve: pretty good, he was 10-11. >> phil: he hits his first two tonight. >> steve: ramon sessions, this is his third year from nevada. gilbert almost got it at the buzzer. the timberwolves after trailing by as many as 7, end the quarter on a 12-4 run. kevin love continuing his strong play at 7 points on 3-4 shooting. we have played one in minneapolis where the wizards are looking for their first three game win streak since the season before last. they trail t honey... the credit fairy... doesn't exist. what? it's make-believe. nobody left anything under your pillow. if there's no credit fairy then who will make our credit score go up? we will. by doing things like paying our bills on time. announcer: there's no magic to improving your credit. but there's help and it's free. go to creditfairy.org what? and what did she say? she said whatever. >> steve: snowing on and off all day in minneapolis. they had 15 inches on the ground when they arrived last night. the wizards have outscored the wizards after the wizards led by seven. >> phil: there were a couple place that went up and jeff everwas looking towards the room. that was our physical play. >> steve: caron has 4 points. >> phil: washington is perfect from the free-throw line. they had 15 rebounds. >> steve: minnesota starts the second quarter with possession. tipped out-of-bounds by washington. they will give it to the wizards. it looked like haywood may have got a hand on it. sasha pavlovic starts the period. here is blatche, he scores. it's good to see him score earl because >> steve: blatche to hollins who misses and haywood clears the glass. seven rebounds for brendan haywood already. nick young. they have to reset with eight seconds to shoot. boykins with 5. around the haywood screen. underneath to brendan but couldn't do it. >> phil: it was a hard fast because it was so long. you heard it. >> steve: it was a couple years ago when he was one of the league leaders in steals, right up there in the top three. >> phil: those numbers are coming up for caron. he is fourth in the league for steals. >> steve: he was anticipating those types of passes four years ago where he would sense the crosscourt pass and slide up there and pick it off. >> phil: you have to keep your head on a swivel and have to have good eye contact on not discuss the ball but the guy you are guarding. here is contact by pavlovic. butler is the 14th best free throw shooter >> steve: caron has 6 points, he is 4-4 from the line. wizards back up by 3. they have led by as many as 7. here is ellington for the jumper, good. ellington had a good season last year, he lead the heels to the finals in co first personal on haywood. wizards will spend the night here, actually and travel to memphis tomorrow and play the grizzles on monday night before returning home to face oklahoma city tuesday at verizon center. nick young called for a foul. >> phil: you have to understand where your teammates are. that time brendan did a good job by switching off. besides pushing from nick young that was called for the whistle. >> steve: ellington short, blatche has it, quickly to boykin >> phil: fifth turnover. so far the timberwolves haven't scored off those turnovers. >> steve: they have committed one as kevin love collection back into the game. he doesn't have a rebound yet but last 7 points on 3-4 shooting. knocked away by butler, a foul called. al jefferson is back in for minnesota. that will be the second on butler. >> phil: he has his head on a swivel. you can see a lot of contact on that. >> steve: must have got him on the wrist. ramon sessions is a 66% free throw shooter. this is his first year here after the first two with milwaukee. he had the winning shot against the wizards a couple years ago. >> phil: i remember that in milwaukee, on the baseline. do you remember it? >> steve: i sure do. he misses both free throws boykins for blatche. nowhere to go and runs into blatche. four seconds left on the shot clock. boykins fading jumper, what a shot. earl boykins in his 11th year from eastern michigan has worked wonders with this team since he came here on november 11th. his third field goal in the last 10 minutes. >> phil: that's a good play by love. he new session knew sessions was going to be open. >> steve: butler takes the jump shot and hit it. it. love's jumper is good. >> steve: go to blatche again, he will take the shot and hit it. blatche is 2-2. >> phil: very assertive shot. ellington looking for jefferson who has been relatively quiet. 0-2 and missing that one. nick young safes it in to earl boykins. blatche leaves it for young, the short jumper, no good. love the rebound, that's an easy 2 for timberwolves are 3-3 over their last six games after winning three times in their first 24. again to blatche. he will try another one. andray blatche is 3-3. wizards by 2. 6:38 to play, first half. >> phil: none of these were easy shots, they were all contested. >> steve: loose-ball foul is called and it looks like it's on washington. >> phil: somebody forget to box out ramon sessions who was challenging brendan for that rebound. >> steve: we will go to a commercial. ( clink ) ( glasses clinking in tune ) ( clinking, laughter ) ( glasses clinking in tune ) ( clinking, laughter ) ( glasses clinking in tune ) ( glasses clinking in tune ) ( glasses clinking in tune ) ( clinking, humming ) ( clinking, humming ) ( cheering, humming, clinking ) hos15% or more on car to geico insurance?e you host: is ed "too tall" jones too tall? nurse: i'm just gonna guesstimate. vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. up to the wizards to us. we had a beautiful christmas party. his wife and daughters, beautiful home, gorgeous home, food was just out ray gust. we were admit tons. we stood there and eight and eight and eight lobster tails. >> phil: i didn't eat like that. >> steve: yes, you did. >> phil: but i had a good time. outstanding, no ques >> steve: gilbert is back in, takes the jumper and hits. so it's arenas, boykins and foye along with haywood and blatche. interesting lineup. they go to al jefferson. love with a fake, jumps it off with the with the wide open jumper. blatche underneath haywood, has it blocked from behind by jefferson. this will be a traveling violation as foye surprised -- >> phil: i think it was brewer. >> steve: brewer, i think it was. >> phil: he was not able to get that shot down. i think it was jefferson that got him from behind. andray blatche is playing sharp basketball right now. >> steve: flip saunders who was a great basketball player in high school and continued his career at the university of minnesota. he went on to coaching, first as and an assistant. you see the winningest coach in history. in high school he went to a -- >> steve: wizards by 5. they have led by as many as 7. here is jefferson, short jump hook is in and out. al jefferson has played his third year here. haywood thinking about it, back out to boykins. they look to go down low to brendan. now, boykins for gilbert underneath, reverse lay-up is too strong. he never touched the rim so that's a 24-second violation. last season the timberwolves went 24-58, winning two more games than the season before. they failed to make the playoffs for the fifth straight year that was after a string testify consecutive post-season appearances. damien wilkins, son the gerald, nephew of dominique. here is against r. >> phil: he leads all rebounders with ate. you get surprised -- damien wilkins. that's a bad shot by boykins, it's off to the left. underneath, brewer, he scores. the timberwolves are back on top by 1. wizards has had leads of 7 and 5. gilbert turns it over. trying to get caron butler into the game. but he is not allowed in. wizards can't get the rebound. jefferson gets an easy 2. >> phil: he kept it alive because jefferson had pulled down the offensive rebound and got the second choice. >> steve: there is an offensive foul. they had substantial leads only to give them away but hang on at the end. twice here tonight they have had good leads but unable to extend them. washington has been outscored 8- 2 now in the last 1:35. >> phil: carrying that point a little further is a very strong fourth quarter. in their last 3 wins that's what we have seen. they have taken care of the ball, they are very selective with their shot. they tightened up defensively. >> steve: gilbert switches and scores. that's the first possession in five that they didn't have a turnover. jamison flips it up. he had love standing there to take an offensive foul and that disrup wilkins, he throws it away. the fourth minnesota turnover. a timeout on the floor. gilbert arenas trying to get his team back on track, he has made 4-9 free throw attempts. four rebounds. he has 9 points the wizards >> steve: the wizards have had a couple of leads in this half, one of 7, one of 5 points. each time minnesota has come back and now they trail -- they lead the wizards by 1, it will be washi >> steve: last time was the first time in six seasons that their wins did not decline. in 2003 and 2004, they slipped to 50 victories and then took a dramatic turn downward. they got back up to 24 last season. >> phil: they have to play a majority of the games without their leading scorer, al jefferson. down on the frontline they are pretty solid. >> steve: nice job by corey