The Minnesota Timberwolves were coming into this back-to-back with a win against Utah. Tonight they ran into a Trailblazers team that was ready and waiting. The Timberwolves had 5 players in double digits as they were trying to slow down Portland. This was one of those games that were neck and neck the whole time as both teams were scoring at a high rate. Anthony Edwards was doing his part scoring and he’s been turning into a true two-way player right before our eyes. Anthony Edwards has been learning how to get into passing lanes and turning that into easy points. Edwards has been in a groove lately and he was able to finish with 26 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds on the night.
D’Angelo Russell has been on a roll with his scoring as of late in the 4th quarter. The Timberwolves needed it against Portland but you can’t get them every night. Russell did have a great game finishing with 24 points, 3 assists, and 1 rebound. When Russell has the chance to showcase his passing ability it puts the Timberwolves in a better position tonight they defended him with doubles preventing it. Rudy Gobert was matched up with Jusuf Nurkić on the night as both of them battled it out. Rudy finished with 24 points, 2 assists, and 9 rebounds but Portland made him work for every point. The Timberwolves needed some more points down the stretch and it comes down to taking care of the ball in crunch time. It’s all about taking care of the ball and playing at your own pace and the TrailBlazers had them speeding up the tempo. Once you speed the tempo up when you’re better in half-court it messes up the rhythm. The Timberwolves are going to be able to get some payback as they play the TrailBlazers again Monday.
Portland was still pissed off from losing to the Nuggets the other night and made it a point to win tonight. Damian Lillard came out firing and he was on his Dame Time from the jump. When Lillard is in a zone like he was in tonight it doesn’t matter who you have on him. The Timberwolves will definitely look at the footage and see how they can avoid that moving forward. On the night Damian Lillard had 36 points, 8 assists, and 3 rebounds. Dame was able to get his teammates involved early and he was able to get his offense going too. When Dame plays like this he makes the TrailBlazers a lot better and he gets his teammates to believe the same thing.
One of those players that have been believing that Portland can make some noise alongside Damian Lillard is Anfernee Simons. Tonight Simons had 31 points and was able to make the Timberwolves pay if they doubled Lillard. Simons has been able to make teams pay when they pay too much attention to Dame. If they both can play at this high level every night then the TrailBlazers can be a great pick to sneak into the playoffs just like Minnesota.
These two teams will go back at it for Round 2 on Tuesday as Minnesota tries to get an even split in this season series.
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