Dec 27, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Washington Wizards forward Trevor Ariza (1) shoots over Minnesota Timberwolves guard Kevin Martin (23) during the first quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Right when you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse than a 20+ point blowout after having five days of rest, the Wizards lost Bradley Beal in the fourth quarter to injury when he shouldn’t have been playing. Washington looked great to start the first quarter, but it was all downhill from there. Kevin Love asserted himself as the best player on the floor, and the Timberwolves went on to blow the Wizards out in Minnesota. Here are some Bullet Points:

John Wall scored 22 of his 26 points in the first half, but he unfortunately didn’t get much help from his teammates tonight. Wall knocked down several jump shots at the start of the game, which opened up the floor for him to attack the basket later on. He has a tendency to fall in love with his jump shot once he gets it going, but he didn’t do that tonight for the most part. Another good game for John Wall, but it doesn’t mean much when the team doesn’t come out on top.

Washington’s bigs were obliterated on the glass by Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic, which is essentially spoiled the Wizards’ chances of winning the game right from the start. Love and Pekovic combined for 21 of Minnesota’s 44 rebounds, and it didn’t help that they got whatever they wanted offensively. Love scored 25 points in just 32 minutes, while Pekovic contributed with 18 points on just 13 shot attempts. Marcin Gortat has to do a better job at establishing defensive position. If he’s getting handled offensively, he needs to find a way to help out once the Wizards regain possession. He missed a few easy layups off pick-and-roll situations, and he has to find a way to get it going if the Wizards are going to succeed.

The Timberwolves attempted 38 free throws tonight. That is all.

Tonight’s loss was definitely overshadowed by Bradley Beal’s injury. Let’s hope Beal just “bumped” his knee like some of Wizards media is indicating and it’s nothing too serious. The Wizards were already down by 20+ points in the fourth quarter, yet both John Wall and Bradley Beal were in the game. Beal gets hurt, and I can’t help but ask why he was in the game even though he’s already on a minutes limit. It was definitely a bad coaching decision by Randy Wittman and his crew. These sort of injuries hurt, especially when it probably could’ve been avoided. Yuck.

The Wizards will be back in Washington tomorrow night against the Detroit Pistons, who just suffered a blow out of their own to the Orlando Magic tonight.