Wolves lose to Trail Blazers in Portland

The Wolves got off to a surprising start, trading leads with the Blazers throughout the first quarter and leading by as many as five points before taking a 26-22 lead.

The second quarter saw the Wolves bench take a number of wild shots on offense and get lost completely on defense, allowing Portland to score a number of easy buckets and keep the visitors from extending their already slim lead. The Wolves’ starters returned after a sloppy stretch that spanned the first chunk of the second quarter, and they were able to keep Portland from ending the game before halftime.

After a flurry by Portland and a few answers from the Wolves’ starters, the Trail Blazers led by a score of 48-40 at the break, which was also their biggest lead of the game at that point after enjoying an 18-4 scoring run.

The Wolves were able to withstand a swift onslaught from Portland to start the third quarter and were down 67-61 with under two minutes to play in the frame before a fast 8-0 run gave the Blazers a 75-61 lead heading into the fourth.

Minnesota went on a 9-2 run during the middle of the fourth quarter, trimming what was once a 17-point lead down to 91-84 with just over 5:00 remaining before the Blazers pulled away down the stretch before winning by a score of 107-93.

It was a solid effort by the Wolves, but Portland is simply a better, deeper team. Tomorrow night in Los Angeles will be even tougher.

Random Notes:

– Shabazz Muhammad did his thing tonight, scoring 28 and pulling down 5 rebounds, 4 of them on the offensive end of the floor. His first shot of the game was, as always, from a post-up on the left block, but the left-handed forward shot it with his right hand for, unofficially, the first off-handed made shot of his career. He followed that with an emphatic dunk over Chris Kaman off a nice pass from Mo Williams.

– The main reason why the Wolves were able to carry a lead into the latter stages of the second quarter was Portland’s cold three-point shooting early in the game. Per always, the Blazers saw the law of averages come to their rescue as the long balls began to fall late in the second quarter.

– The Wolves’ use of the zone actually worked okay, which was weird. Portland is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the NBA, and the idea of using a zone against them seems silly. The Blazers were cold from long range early, however, and it suppressed the score of the game and kept the Wolves in the game longer than they probably should have hung around. (This is not to condone using the zone against good three-point shooting teams, of course.)

– Aside from a few silly turnovers, Mo Williams played well in his return to Portland, who did not bring him back as a sixth man after last season. He scored 21 points (8 of 18 shooting) and dished out 11 assists.

– Zach LaVine, on the other hand, struggled in his encore from a breakout performance against the Lakers on Friday night, going 0 for 3 from the floor with 2 turnovers in just 11 minutes of play.

– The Wolves play a difficult back-to-back on Monday night back at the Staples Center in Los Angeles against the Clippers. Tip-off is at 9:30 Central Time, and we’ll have a preview in the morning.

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