Whatever bad vibes are going around the Portland Trail Blazers' locker room, it might have transferred to the Timberwolves.
Portland suited up just eight players in Saturday's game at the Target Center, the likes of Damian Lillard to Jusuf Nurkic all missing because of injury, illness and rest. Such a depleted roster made the Wolves accomplishing their fourth consecutive victory — and thus beating the preseason Vegas over/under odds of 35 ½ victories — seem very likely.
And yet from the jump, the game wasn't as much of a lock as initially thought, though the Wolves did eventually prevail 135-121 front of an announced sellout crowd of 17,136, improving their record to 36-29.
"That team came in, they're missing a lot of players. But on the flip side, when you're missing that kind of players, playing people who haven't played a lot, they're going to play with a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm," Karl-Anthony Towns said. "So trying to find ways to match their enthusiasm, match their energy, match their competitiveness."
The Wolves emerged from an exhausting stretch of four back-to-backs that started on Feb. 15 with a 6-2 record. But not everyone made it out unscathed.
Guard Anthony Edwards missed his third game in a row because of left knee tendinopathy. Coach Chris Finch said pregame that Edwards had been working on a lot of "movement and strength stuff" as well as going through rehab treatments, including shockwave therapy.
Guard Patrick Beverley was questionable while taking part in pregame warmups, eventually sitting out the game with a sore right ankle enough to play.
Forward Taurean Prince only made it through the first half, labeled as doubtful to return out of halftime with back spasms. Center Naz Reid was the final casualty, limping to the locker room in the fourth quarter after tangling with a Portland player and appearing to hurt his right knee.
