Wolves' latest last-quarter hex conjured by Wizards

With about 9½ minutes remaining in their game with Washington on Friday at Target Center, had you been looking for a word to describe the way the Timberwolves were playing, you might have picked plucky.

After all, Al Jefferson was struggling, but everyone else was picking up the slack. Rashad McCants, both inside and out. Antoine Walker off the bench, Sebastian Telfair on the point.

After the game was over, though, after his team had surrendered yet another fourth-quarter lead with an amazing collapse in a 105-89 loss to the Wizards, Wolves coach Randy Wittman chose another word:

Oops. Not appropriate for use in this space. To paraphrase: Disappointing.

Wittman was disappointed that his team stopped moving the ball late in the game, one reason for 13 fourth-quarter turnovers. He was disappointed that the Wolves, finally finding themselves in the bonus early in both the third and fourth quarters, started settling for early jumpers rather than attacking the hoop.

Disappointed, in general.

After it was over -- after the duo of Gilbert Arenas (nine fourth-quarter points) and Caron Butler (11) had helped the Wizards outscore the Wolves 32-11 over the final 9½ minutes -- Wittman refused to blame experience. Execution? That's another story.

"We didn't make the hustle plays," Wittman said. "We just didn't make the plays, all right? Plays aren't just going to happen, you have to make them happen. I'm disappointed with that."

Want a play emblematic of that lack of effort? The Wolves were down by seven with about 4 minutes left. They played a stretch of good defense, forcing a bad shot. The long rebound came to Arenas, who hit a 25-foot three-pointer. The Wolves then turned the ball over, leading to a three-point play.

Game.

The good news was that afterward most players were stepping up and taking their share of the blame. Jefferson, for his 5-for-16 shooting. Rashad McCants, who scored 19 points, instead pointed at another of his stats: eight turnovers.

"That loss is my fault," McCants said. "Definitely my fault. I can't perform like that if we're going to win. Very unacceptable. We have to come out with more energy."

That is an understatement. The Wolves, moving the ball well, had a strong second quarter to take a four-point halftime lead. They led by three after three quarters and by five with 9½ minutes left.

And then?

A fourth quarter that featured 3-for-15 shooting and seven turnovers, which the Wizards turned into 13 fourth-quarter points.

"We've got to learn how to take care of the ball in the fourth quarter," said Jefferson, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds but got just two shots in the fourth quarter.

"Fourth quarter, we just exhausted the dribble," said Wittman, hinting that his players tried to do it all by themselves. "That's where a lot of the turnovers came about. That's why we scored 15 points in the fourth quarter."

A learning experience? Nobody wanted to talk about that. Call it a trying experience.

"They have experience," Wolves guard Marco Jaric said. "They know how to punish us."

Kent Youngblood • kyoungblood@startribune.com