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WASHINGTON -- Kevin Love looked as if he was headed for a big night against Washington. St.Louis Blues Store . Instead, the Wizards kicked their defence up measurably and held the NBAs third-leading scorer below his season average. Love, who entered the game averaging 26.8 points, had 16 in the first quarter but only nine afterward as Washington broke its four-game losing streak with a 104-100 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. "I thought he was going for 70 in the first eight minutes," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. Love, who made five of his first six shots, missed eight of his final 11 to finish with 25. He had 11 rebounds, also below his season average. Bradley Beal scored 25 points, while John Wall added 14 points and tied his career high with 16 assists for Washington. Martel Websters 3-pointer with 42 seconds to play gave the Wizards a 100-98 lead. Beal added two free throws with 12.9 seconds left to make it 102-98. Webster had 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Minnesota started furiously. A 13-2 first-quarter run put them up by 10, and Love had 16 points by the end of the quarter with the Timberwolves ahead 34-27. Love played half the second quarter, missed his only shot, and had just one point, but Minnesota led 63-51 in the half. "I thought when we came out to start the game, it was again lethargic. We werent dictating things defensively. We got upset at halftime and turned it on," Wittman said. Prior to Tuesday mornings shootaround, the Wizards had a players-only meeting, one that Wittman feigned ignorance about before the game. After the game, he joked that he liked the meetings result. "After halftime I was going to have another one. I wasnt going to go in there. Ill do whatever it takes for a win, trust me," Wittman said. Besides holding Love down, Washington also stopped Kevin Martin, who was averaging 24.4 points. He was held to 11. "We need everybody every night. We cant usually get by if we have a couple guys with off games," Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said. Minnesota began a difficult stretch of five games in seven nights, its second of the season. "Our transition D was poor," Love said. "Thats the only way they scored the ball really. I thought we did a good job in the half court, but everyone knows, when that team gets out in transition they can be pretty good offensively." Beal scored 17 in the second half and his layup with 10:24 to play gave the Wizards an 86-85 lead. They held it until Martins two free throws tied it at 95 with 2:23 to play. "In the first half, we were horrible. We werent there defensively. We were lackadaisical. We played with no energy," Beal said. Wall hit a jumper with 1:26 to play to give Washington a 97-95 lead, but Martin, who had missed 12 of his first 15 field goals, made a 3-pointer and Minnesota pulled ahead 98-97 with 1:11 remaining. Minnesota had won seven of its first 11. Adelman, a veteran of 23 seasons as an NBA coach, cautioned his team. "I keep telling them they havent done anything yet," he said before the game. In the second half, the Timberwolves shot just 34 per cent and missed 10 of their 13 3-pointers. "If youre going to be somebody in the league, you have to be ready to win every night. I think we didnt do it tonight in the second half and this kind of game is one of the games that youre going to need," Wolves guard Ricky Rubio said. Rubio had three quick fouls in just seven first-half minutes and played just 19 minutes. Wall had seven assists in the third quarter as the Wizards outscored the Timberwolves 30-18 to even the game at 81. NOTES: Wittman was incensed about an early first-quarter foul on Beal, but held his emotions in check. After being fined for using profane language and being fined $20,000, Wittman is sensitive. "I aint gonna get in any more trouble," he joked. . Washington F Al Harrington missed his third straight game with a right knee injury. . Wizards F Trevor Ariza missed his second game with a strained right hamstring. . Flip Saunders, who was fired as Washingtons coach in January 2012, returned to the arena in his new role as Minnesotas president of basketball operations. St.Louis Blues Shirts . But Josh Bailey scored the shootout winner to lead the Islanders to a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in a battle of the Eastern Conferences two worst teams. Stitched Blues Jerseys . Nick Holden scored two goals and had an assist and the Avalanche held off the Nashville Predators 5-4 Saturday night for their fourth straight victory. https://www.cheapblues.com/ .Y. -- Major League Soccer has agreed to new measures to protect gay players from discrimination and harassment as a result of meetings with New Yorks attorney general.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Golden State Warriors will try to extend their franchise-record home winning streak on Friday when they host the Sacramento Kings at Oracle Arena. Golden State has won 17 straight as the host for the first time. The Warriors won 16 in a row at home over two seasons in 1950 and 1959 when the franchise was in Philadelphia. Our goal going into the season was to protect home court, said guard Steph Curry, who was named a Western Conference All-Star game starter on Thursday. It means a lot to be consistent every night. The Warriors, who have won three in a row overall and own the NBAs best mark at 34-6, earned a season sweep of the Houston Rockets last time out. It was Golden States first season sweep of Houston since the 1973-74 campaign. The Warriors won, 126-113, on Wednesday in a game with yet another skirmish between the two teams. With Golden State up big in the third quarter, Curry was whistled for an offensive foul. On the way back down the quarter, Houstons Trevor Ariza bumped into Curry, who went after the Rockets player until Draymond Green held him back. Curry, who already had a technical foul, but was not given one for the altercation, finished with 22 points and 10 assists. Klay Thompson had 27 and Green notched 18 points in the win. If thats how they want to try to get back in the game, it didnt work, Curry said. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr will be the Western Conference All-Star game coach in just his first season as an NBA head coach. The Kings have lost five straight and two in a row on the road. Fridays game sttarts a five-game road trip, which quickly heads east to New York, Toronto, Cleveland and Indiana. Wholesale Blues Jerseys. On Wednesday, the Kings staged a furious comeback, but came up short at home against the Brooklyn Nets. Sacramento fell, 103-100. Brooklyn led by as many as 23 in the first half before the Kings trimmed the deficit to two late in the fourth quarter, but the Nets were able to stave them off down the stretch. We just didnt come ready to go, Kings head coach Ty Corbin said. I thought we came back and fought hard. Rudy Gay scored the final eight points of a 12-2 run to trim an early 17-point fourth quarter deficit to 88-81 midway through the frame and DeMarcus Cousins netted the last four points of a 9-2 spurt later in the period to whittle the gap to 96-94 with 1:31 to go. Brooklyns Joe Johnson answered at the other end with a left wing 3-pointer before Cousins and Johnson each hit a pair of foul shots for a 101-96 Brooklyn advantage with 24.1 ticks remaining. Cousins drove in for a dunk and Johnson split a pair from the charity stripe, but Ben McLemore was off on a triple and the Nets Jarrett Jack hit 1-of-2 foul shots with 8.6 seconds on the clock to seal the outcome. Cousins supplied 28 points and 14 rebounds and Gay chipped in 25 points, eight boards and six assists for Sacramento. Darren Collison recorded 16 points and five assists for the Kings and Omri Casspi chipped in 10. The Warriors have won both of this seasons matchups and six straight against Sacramento. Golden State is 6-1 in its last seven as the host in this series. ' ' '