The Timberwolves came into this game and needed a win badly after dropping one to the Lakers. The Portland Trail Blazers have shut down their starters for the remainder of the season. So with them not playing their starters and the Timberwolves having their starters, it looked like the Wolves had this in the bag with a 19-point spread.

Well, the spread was wrong in this one as the Timberwolves had difficulty containing Shaedon Sharpe in this game. Today Sharpe looked sharp on the court and could do no wrong as he made the Timberwolves pay in the paint. Shapre showed a lot of ball-handling skills and showed that he could make some big shots while driving to the basket. The game started neck and neck but the Timberwolves just couldn’t slow down the Portland offense as they were able to make some tough shots. Sharpe led the way for them with 27 points and kept the Trail Blazers in this game all day long with his aggression to the paint and big-shot ability. Sharpe was a handful for the Timberwolves but in that 2nd half, it was Kevin Knox who was making some plays that took this win away from the Timberwolves. Knox hit some shots and was able to attack the basket to either create or make a play for himself. Knox finished the game with 19 points off the bench and made the most of the minutes that Coach Billups gave him. Portland was able to beat the Timberwolves because of the control in the turnovers, points in the paint, and bench points. The Portland Trail Blazers came into this game with nothing to lose and only something to gain as they made some clutch free throws down the stretch to take this one from the Timberwolves at home.

The Timberwolves ended up beating themselves in this game as they had too many turnovers and they had players in foul trouble. Karl-Anthony Towns wasn’t able to stay on the court with his foul trouble and that hurts when you don’t have a Naz Reid that you can put in to help with the offense. It was good to see Anthony Edwards get back on track after not feeling well he was able to finish the game with 37 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Edwards was special today as he’s always been but he was able to turn it on in that 2nd half when the Trail Blazers already were feeling good and confident. The Timberwolves will look back at this game and realize they had it won if they didn’t turn the basketball over. So you can definitely say they can use this as a mural victory but they need some real victories down the stretch now. Rudy Gobert was dominant in the paint on the offensive end but didn’t get much help today on the defensive end when Portland had him in switches. This Timberwolves team has been playing to their competition all year long and I believe they got caught in the trap again. We know they can beat any team and they can get the jump done so they will need to lock in for the last 3 games. Minnesota can be special they just need to lock in on the defensive end first because the defense helps create the offense and once they get that back anything can happen.

The Timberwolves have the Nets, Spurs, and Pelicans left in the season and they’re all must-win games if they want to make the play-in or playoffs.

Photo Credit: (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)