MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves started an important eight-game stretch with an emphatic victory, handi

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves started an important eight-game stretch with an emphatic victory, handing the improving Washington Wizards their worst loss of the season. Giovani Bernard Jersey . The Wizards hope they didnt lose something much more important than just one game. Love had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and J.J. Barea scored 17 points off the bench to help the Timberwolves beat Washington 120-98 on Friday night. Ricky Rubio had 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in 26 minutes, and Nikola Pekovic added 18 points and 10 boards for the Timberwolves. Minnesota turned the ball over only five times and got 44 points from its long-struggling reserves. "Its no secret we need more production from our bench," Love said. "That really helps out some of the starters, especially when every night isnt going to be great for all of our guys, one through five." John Wall had 26 points and seven assists for the Wizards, who missed a chance to win their fourth straight road game for the first time since March 2008. Nene added 13 points and five rebounds, but Bradley Beal had to be helped off the floor in the fourth quarter with a left leg injury. Beal scored 14 points in 26 minutes, but got tangled up on a screen by Wolves forward Luc Mbah a Moute with 4:25 to go. Beal was knocked to the ground and couldnt put any pressure on his left leg as Jan Vesely and Trevor Ariza helped him to the locker room. "With the knee injuries going on this year in the NBA, you just hope (Beals) isnt one of those ones that (is) devastating," Wall said. Preliminary X-rays were negative on Beals left knee and he will have an MRI on Saturday. "I was just trying to really get up and I really couldnt get up," Beal said. "Was hoping it wasnt anything too serious or too crazy. I mean, I was able to put a little weight on it afterwards. Just have to see with the MRI tomorrow." Beal missed nine games this season with a stress fracture in his right leg, and the Wizards count on his scoring as part of their dynamic young backcourt. Barea shot 8 of 10 and Alexey Shved scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds to give the Wolves some much-needed balance between their starters and bench. The Timberwolves slogged through a brutal opening two months, weathering injuries to Chase Budinger and Ronny Turiaf and the third-toughest schedule in the NBA to post a 13-15 record. It was underwhelming considering the high hopes they started the season with, but not wholly unexpected given the schedule. Now is the time they have to make a move if they want to be a factor in the Western Conference playoff race. They play six of the next eight at home and face five teams that are currently under .500. The Wolves got off to an awful start Friday, shooting 28 per cent in the first quarter. But they got to the free throw line 10 times to stay close, then made their move in the second quarter with 39 points. "It makes things a lot easier," coach Rick Adelman said of his second-team backcourt. "I like the way they played at both ends of the court. Weve got to get something going when those guys come in." The Wizards, meanwhile, were looking to end a four-game road swing with a statement. They beat the Knicks, Nets and Celtics to start the trip, then had five days off before facing the Timberwolves, and coach Randy Wittman wanted to see his young team build on the steps he believed they took in those victories. Wall scored 22 points in the first half, but just four in the second as the Wizards faded. The Wolves dictated play for most of the night, shooting 38 free throws to just 17 for Washington and outrebounding the Wizards 44-35, including 14-9 on the offensive end. "They were tougher than we were," Wittman said. "They pushed us around. We had no resistance. So weve got to put this game behind us but learn from it." NOTES: Former Timberwolves F Martell Webster scored 11 points for the Wizards. ... Wizards F Kevin Seraphin missed the game with a sore right knee. ... The Timberwolves game against Phoenix on Jan. 8 has been moved to an 8:30 p.m. CST start to accommodate ESPN. Trey Hopkins Jersey . The Canucks figured to be active prior to Wednesdays trade deadline, getting a jump on things the previous day when they dealt goaltender Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers for netminder Jacob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthias. Jeremy Hill Jersey . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. http://www.officialbengalsprofanatics.com/Black-Friday-Kevin-Minter-Jersey/ . -- Caris LeVert had 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, and No.SOCHI, Russia – Jeff Carter has played alongside the likes of Peter Forsberg, Claude Giroux, Rick Nash, Daniel Briere, and Anze Kopitar, but not one of them stacks up to Drew Doughty in one key department. "Hes probably the most skilled guy Ive ever played with and Ive played with some pretty good players," Carter said after a close 2-1 overtime win against Finland. "When his confidence is going [and] hes feeling good about himself he can do anything out there. Its pretty amazing to watch." Doughty scored both Canadian goals – including the upset-preventing overtime winner – late Sunday evening, lifting his country to top spot in Group-B and a berth in the quarterfinals. On a grand Olympic stage that features the highest caliber of talent this game has to offer, the 24-year-old from London, Ontario stands out as one of the very best. "I forget about everything thats going on around me and Im just focused in on that game and having fun," he said. Third in tournament scoring after the preliminary round, Doughty leads Canada with four goals – including one in each of the three games – and five points, totaling nearly 20 minutes of ice-time against the Finns. No apparent fear or uncertainty seems to exist on his part, no matter the venue. Doughty is willing to force the action and assert himself on centre-stage, if and when the moment presents itself. This was clear again in overtime at Bolshoy Ice Dome when he deposited a Carter feed beyond the pads of the nearly-unbeatable Tuukka Rask. It was perhaps most emphatic during the 2010 Olympics when he proved a revelation as a 20-year-old for the gold-medal winning Canadian squad. "Confidence," said Carter in a word. "When you put all his skill with that confidence its pretty amazing." And maybe his personality has something to do with that no-fear persona on the biggest stages, which also included a Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Doughtys defence partner here in Sochi, describes him as "pretty loose" and "funny". A teammate for two-plus seasons with the Kings, Carter agrees, calling him "one of a kind for sure", always with "a smile on his face, bouncing around, laughing, having a good time." Those easy-going quualities seem to translate to the ice. Josh Malone Jersey. "He plays loose out there," Carter said. "Hes not scared to try and make plays too and I think thats what make him such a dynamic player." Doughty carries a cool about him on the ice that makes every one of his movements seem controlled and purposeful, almost as if nothing else out there matters in the scheme of what he has to offer the game. His passes are crisp and on the tape. His daring rushes look as though they were designed beforehand, each stride, angle and movement carefully calculated. His instincts with the puck make it seem as if he is just a step ahead of what lies next. "Thats what Drew does," said Carter of Doughty, the No. 2 overall pick from the 2008 draft, who is logging 26 minutes per game for the Kings this season. "He does it all year for us [in Los Angeles] and probably doesnt get as much recognition as he should because of the time zone and what not." Doughty doesnt look nor appear nervous on this stage, but says he was four years ago in Vancouver during that first Olympic stint. But the nerves that bubbled there were not for the reasons one might think. It had nothing to do with the pressure of bidding for gold on home soil, but was more about his youthful place on a veteran roster that featured aging stars and future Hall-of-Famers like Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. "I was just a little young guy there, had so many older guys around me that I didnt know whatsoever," he said. "I was nervous mostly because of that, not because of the fans and the pressure and the country and all that, it was just meeting all these All-Star players." If not leaning on Niedermayer and Pronger for wisdom, Doughty made sure to stash other hints for success. "Just watching them thats all I had to do," he said. "And I learned so many things just watching those guys play and it helped me out for this one for sure." Doughty looks like hes just having fun, like the intensity of all that lays around him has no bearing. Facing a large horde of media after his overtime winner he stepped toward a microphone and began to speak only to be reminded that he needed to actually speak into the microphone. Cool and jovial, he responded with a sarcastic crack, "I actually gotta talk into the microphone?" 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