Trevor Booker barely made it through a couple minutes of playing time in the first half before illness sent him to the locker room.
The rookie forward came back to make some of the biggest plays in the game.
After taking some medicine at halftime, Booker played nearly the entire fourth quarter and had three highlight dunks on successive possessions to give Washington the lead take the Wizards to a 103-96 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
"It was real tough," Booker said. "I didn't know if I was going to make it or not. Most of the minutes in the fourth quarter, I was hurting but I fought through it."
Kevin Love scored 20 points and had 21 rebounds for Minnesota, the third straight game and 11th of the season with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds for the All-Star forward.
Booker finished with seven points, six of them coming in a crucial 1 minute span midway through the final quarter.
Love had put Minnesota up 85-84 before Booker's outburst, with the final two dunks coming on offensive rebounds. On the first of the two putbacks Booker jumped from behind Love and grabbed the ball just before it reached Love's waiting hands before Booker slammed it home.
"I just saw the ball up there, so I just tried to go up and get it," Booker said. "And then I saw I was pretty high. I decided to dunk it."
Booker's series put the Wizards ahead 90-85, and a few minutes later Washington extended the lead to 97-90 on Maurice Evans' 3-pointer, capping a 13-5 run. The Timberwolves made a brief comeback push, but were unable to retake the lead after Booker energized the Wizards.
"You see the mascots jumping off the trampoline, that's what it felt like he was doing in there. He's an athletic freak," Love said. "I got off at that 10th floor, he got off at the 12th. That
was the deal."
John Wall scored 18 points and had a career-high 11 rebounds, and Andray Blatche scored 20 points and had seven rebounds for Washington, which snapped a seven-game losing streak. The Wizards have won their last seven games at home against the Timberwolves.
