Reversing a trend (at least for one night)

When Al Jefferson landed awkwardly an fell into a heap on the New Orleans Arena floor, it was a massive blow to what had already been a horrible fourth quarter against the Hornets.

If you remember correctly, the Wolves led a pretty decent New Orleans team by three points with 5:01 to play in the fourth quarter. Minnesota, however, was outscored 16-9 the rest of the way and made only three field goals in that stretch.

Each of the two games since then featured poor late-game execution. 

A quick recap:

The Wolves led Toronto by three with 6:30 to play in the final game before the All-Star Break. Down the stretch, the Wolves again managed only three field goals and were out scored 24-13. The result was a 110-102 loss.

On Monday night, the Wolves led Washington (I have a hard time not automatically adding an adjective such as bad, horrible or crappy any time I type Washington or Wizards) 96-91 with 4:03 to go. The result was wretched. The Wiz outscored the Wolves 20-7 down the stretch and the Wolves again lost.

In those three games, the Wolves were outscored 97-66 in the fourth quarter, a fairly amazing margin when you think about it.

That's why Wednesday night's 111-104 win at Miami was important. It certainly wasn't pretty as the Wolves were again outscored in the fourth, but at least the Wolves reversed a recent trend. Despite leading by nine at the start of the fourth and by as many as 11 early in the quarter, Miami clawed their way back into this game. When Mario Chalmers -- he who was the property of the Wolves for about 34 seconds back in June -- scored to give the Heat a 99-97 lead with 2:28 to go, I thought this was going to be a fourth-straight crap fourth quarter for the Wolves.

But on the next possession, Bassy found Foye for a three. After Jermaine O'Neal missed on the other end, Bassy made a three of his own and the Wolves were up four with 90 seconds or so left. That was the ballgame and after losing five in a row the Wolves had their first win in more than two weeks.

Things we learned:

1. This isn't exactly rocket science, but the Wolves are much better when they move the ball like they did for much of the night against the Heat. Twenty-four assists on 37 field goals is very nice. It's a far cry from Randy-with-his-head-down down the stretch against the Wiz when the Wolves had 19 assists on 35 hoops.

2. D-Wade is really, really good. Wow he is fun to watch. He can get his own whenever he wants, but he also distributes well. 

3. What's the deal with these slow starts. Another night, another big hole to start the game. That has to change and that's a blog post for another night.

I'll be back at you tomorrow. Maybe there will be some real news. Who knows.