Whatever bad vibes are going around the Portland Trail Blazers' locker room, it might have transferred to the Timberwolves.
Karl-Anthony Towns carries shorthanded Wolves past Trail Blazers
The Wolves started the game without Anthony Edwards and Patrick Beverley, and others started to disappear from the bench as the game continued.
March 6, 2022 at 6:35AM
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.
Malik Beasley also left the game early, though not from injury. On just his second three-pointer of the game about halfway through the first quarter, "Threesley" eclipsed Kevin Love for the team record of most threes in a season with 191. And he did it with 17 games still left in the regular season.
He was 4-for-9 at the three-point line with 16 total points, exiting the game early about halfway through the third quarter, when he was ejected with a technical foul for appearing to try to head-butt Drew Eubanks after an under-the-basket tussle.
"He's been on a heck of a run shooting it lately," Finch said. "… It's a shame he had to exit early because he was playing really, really well for us."
Finch turned to guard Josh Okogie to fill in three or so minutes in the last quarter-and-a-half, but that was the only minor change the coach had to make. Six players scored in double digits for the team's season-best shooting game going 48-for-85, headlined by Towns' perfect 13-for-13 from two-point range.
Towns ended with 36 points and 15 rebounds, followed by Jaylen Nowell's 22 points off the bench. DeAngelo Russell had 14 points with 15 assists.
"I go to attack mode for sure," Nowell said of amping up when his team had personnel struggles. "I think I put up two shots in the first half. And once I saw TP was out, I knew I had to be more aggressive. Right when the thing with Beas happened, I knew I needed to be more aggressive. So I just knew I could take more shots, get to the rim, make the right plays."
Anfernee Simons led the game with 38 points and helped Portland lead for most of the first two quarters.
"It wasn't a pretty game," Finch said. "Four back-to-backs is damn near irresponsible. But real proud of the guys finding a way shorthanded."
Despite so-so record, Wolves have improved at crunch time.
