Wolves lose to Warriors in record-setting fashion

OAKLAND, CALIF. - This isn't a joke, even if it sounds like one after the Timberwolves' historically abysmal 146-105 loss at Golden State on Monday night ...

Two Oracle Arena employees walk into work late Monday afternoon.

One guy says to the other, "If we can't beat Minnesota, there's no hope."

Ditto?

By the time it thankfully was over, the Wolves had tied franchise records for points allowed in a game and biggest margin of defeat.

"It's an embarrassment," Wolves forward Al Jefferson said. "We just got embarrassed."

The Wolves also surrendered 146 points in an April 1, 1994, game, also right there in Golden State. That was when Isaiah Rider, Christian Laettner and current assistant coach Darrick Martin all played for the Wolves. It was a year before Kevin Garnett arrived in Minnesota.

The Wolves also lost by 41 points in a March 5, 1996, game at Miami, which was a 113-72 winner that night.

"I don't think any of us have been beat this bad in any of our days of playing basketball," Wolves forward Ryan Gomes said. "So it's got to become personal. You have to do something about this individually and challenge ourselves individually. Then the team ultimately will become better. We cannot let this happen again."

The Warriors brought into Monday's game a 1-4 record and a two-game losing streak to the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento that left Golden State coach Don Nelson -- now 22 victories away from becoming the NBA's all-time winningest coach -- defending his job before the game.

The Wolves lugged a 1-6 record and their own six-game losing streak into town.

Something had to give and again it was the Wolves, who succumbed by allowing 74 before halftime and 111 by the end of three quarters.

They should have been eating free pizza for the rest of the night at Oracle Arena well before then.

"Thank you for bringing that up," Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said when told his team had tied franchise records for points allowed and margin of defeat. "That's excellent that you spent the time during the ballgame to assess that."

Rambis on Monday adjusted his lineup to acknowledge the Warriors' small-ball ways. He took power forward Oleksiy Pecherov out of the starting five, inserted rookie Wayne Ellington into his first NBA start and asked Corey Brewer, the team's defensive specialist, to defend 6-5 guard Kalenna Azubuike and put Ellington on 6-3 guard Monta Ellis.

Azubuike and Ellis combined to score 49 points. Azubuike had 31 of those before he rested for the entire fourth quarter.

"This is not something that's not going to turn around in the first 10 games," Rambis said. "We still don't know who we are as a ballgame until Al Jefferson is back 100 percent, until Kevin Love is back, until we have an idea of a nice starting unit and a set rotation where guys can feel comfortable. Until then, we'll probably continue to play up and down and be inconsistent."

The Wolves haven't won since overcoming a 16-point deficit with fewer than seven minutes to play against New Jersey on opening night. They now have lost seven consecutive games.

"Get on the plane and go back to Minnesota," Gomes said when asked how he and his teammates put this one behind them. "Play Portland [Wednesday night]."

On Sunday, they trailed the Blazers by 28 points in the second half of a game at Portland.

On Monday, they allowed Golden State a 13-2 run that ended the first half and trailed by as many as 45 points in final quarter.

The scoreboard was one thing.

The Wolves' body language was something completely else.

After Azubuike was left alone free for a dunk and a 22-point lead early in the third quarter, Brewer stood out away from the basket with his hands on his hips and his head hung in disbelief. Al Jefferson thumped his chest, apparently signaling he had made a lapse. Sasha Pavlovic clapped his hands to encourage teammates who looked thoroughly defeated.

"Pretty much out of reach by then," Jefferson said. "We, thank God, tried to play hard for the most part throughout the whole game. But every little mistake we made, they took advantage of."

By then, even a woman who had a few too many beverages in one of the luxury suites had seen enough of "this boring game where the Warriors blew out the Wolverines."