Timberwolves Wrap: Blazers win late, aided by close calls

It all started out positively enough.

The pregame Flip Saunders tribute was emotional and extremely well done by the Timberwolves front office folks. The Wolves then jumped out to a 34-17 lead late in the first quarter and things looked like they were setting up nicely for a big win in the home opener.

But the visiting Trail Blazers woke up in the second quarter and managed to tie the game at 53 by halftime behind a barrage of points from Portland back court mates Damien Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

The third quarter was evenly played as the Timberwolves bench did a good job hanging with the Blazers into the fourth quarter before the tide started to turn. Portland pulled ahead before head coach Sam Mitchell chose to pull the trigger on putting his starters back in the game.

The Trail Blazers built a 99-89 with 5:39 remaining on the clock before an Andrew Wiggins three-point play, a bucket from Kevin Martin, and Karl-Anthony Towns‘ first NBA three-pointer pulled the Wolves to within 99-97 with about four minutes left.

The game became exceedingly sloppy from there with each team kicking away multiple opportunities to take control. A Ricky Rubio steal and fast break layup with just over a minute left was followed by a miss from Portland and an impossibly controversial tip-in from Wiggins that was ruled basket interference on the floor and upheld by the folks at the replay center in New Jersey.

It sure looked like there was space between the ball and the rim, but the call was upheld. After another miss from the visitors there was confusion from the officials regarding a shot clock violation that also ended up going in Portland’s favor, leading to a jump ball at center court that Towns won.

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After a timeout, the Wolves ended up in another jump ball situation on their end of the floor, which ended with both Towns and Mason Plumlee grabbing each others arms to prevent one another from tapping the ball. A foul was called on Towns (and only Towns), and after Plumlee converted one of two free throws it was a three-point game with 12 seconds remaining.

After another Wolves timeout, Kevin Martin was stripped of the ball as he attempted a game-tying three-pointer (although replays appeared to show that it should have been called a foul) and that was all she wrote. A disappointing 106-101 loss in the Timberwolves opener was complete.

Tweet of the Night:

Star of the Night:

Damian Lillard: 34 points (11-19 FG, 6-7 FT,), 7 assists, 2 steals, 2 rebounds, one block, 2 turnovers

Lillard got hot in the second half with Zach LaVine guarding him and rode the streak deep into the fourth quarter. He was the best player on the court for either team, which he should have been, and that’s occasionally enough to make the difference between two otherwise fairly evenly-matched squads.

Stat of the Night:

Too many jump balls and fouls in the final minute…does that count?

Otherwise, let’s go with three-point shooting. The Wolves were just 3 of 13 (23.1%). Portland was only 9 of 30 (30%), but that’s certainly preferable to only shooting 13 on the night.

Notable Timberwolves Lines:

Kevin Martin – 24 points (7-12 FG, 2-4 3P, 8-11 FT), 2 rebounds, one assist, 3 turnovers
Ricky Rubio – 12 points (4-10 FG, 0-2 3P, 4-4 FT), 9 assists, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, one turnover
Karl-Anthony Towns – 11 points (5-9 FG, 1-1 3P), 5 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 turnovers
Andrew Wiggins – 16 points (5-17 FG, 0-3 3P, 6-7 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, one steal, 3 turnovers

Next: How Much Will Ricky Rubio's Jump Shot Help the Wolves?

Who’s got next?

The Timberwolves will have another pair of off days before hosting the Miami Heat on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. It’s another winnable game, but only if Mitchell tightens the rotations and the Wolves hit the glass and knock down open shots with a bit more fervor than they did on Monday.

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