Minnesota Timberwolves: Wolves fall flat, lose to Trail Blazers

The Minnesota Timberwolves lost their second consecutive road game with a blowout loss to the Trail Blazers in Portland on Sunday night by a score of 111-81.

The Minnesota Timberwolves trotted out a lineup on Sunday night that was missing Jimmy Butler, and a bench unit sans a point guard.

Derrick Rose and Jeff Teague both sat out to injury while Butler continued to deal with an apparently deadly, recurring bout of “general soreness”. That meant that two-way player and undrafted rookie Jared Terrell made his NBA debut as backup point guard — a clear miscasting of the high-volume off-guard scorer out of Rhode Island.

Without Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns started hot and Andrew Wiggins got up a ton of shots early as the Wolves trailed by only three point at the end of the first quarter.

But then, the Blazers asserted their will over the cobbled-together second unit of the Timberwolves. With Josh Okogie continuing to run with the starters, Terrell and C.J. Williams made up the backcourt (why Williams is playing over James Nunnally is a bit unclear at this point) of the second unit while Gorgui Dieng and Anthony Tolliver both struggled to find a groove.

The game was out of hand midway through the second quarter, and Portland took a 16-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Wolves offered little resistance in the third frame, and by the time the bench took over the deficit was already hovering around 30 points.

The fourth quarter saw both Keita Bates-Diop and Terrell make their first NBA baskets; Terrell had missed his first seven shot attempts so it was good to see him bang home a 3-pointer.

There’s little in the way of a silver lining to take away from this one. The Trail Blazers were playing on the second night of a back-to-back and the Wolves had been on the West Coast since Friday, so rest/time zone change weren’t to blame.

No, this was a case of a team that has the gross Jimmy Butler saga still hanging over them. No matter how much players (and coaches) downplay the situation, it’s still exceedingly awkward and is at least partially responsible for a 4-6 start to the season for Minnesota.

Tweet of the Night

Player of the Game

Jusuf Nurkic: 19 points (8-11 FG, 0-1 3P, 3-4 FT), 12 rebounds, 2 assists, one block

Jusuf Nurkic was extremely active early, forcing Towns to commit a pair of early personal fouls and three before halftime. Nurkic did damage on the glass; Towns didn’t haul down his fourth rebound until midway through the third quarter while the Portland big man notched an easy double-double in just 23 minutes.

Nurkic didn’t guard Towns much on the other end of the floor, as Blazers coach Terry Stotts instead used the undersized Al-Farouq Aminu and occasional double-teams to check Towns.

Notable Box Score Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 23 points (7-13 FG, 2-4 3P, 7-8 FT), 5 rebounds, 3 assists
• Andrew Wiggins: 17 points (6-16 FG, 2-4 3P, 3-4 FT), 3 steals, one rebound, one assist
• Tyus Jones: 4 points (2-9 FG, 0-1 3P), 4 assists, one steal, one rebound

Towns scored a game-high 23 points in just 25 minutes. The Timberwolves only had Towns and Wiggins score in double-figures; the third-leading scorer on the team was Taj Gibson with eight points and Okogie had six. The other nine players that saw the floor all scored five or less points each.

What’s Next?

Don’t worry, the Wolves have to turn around and play again on Monday night in Los Angeles against the Clippers, who are 5-4 but have a 3-1 home record. The game tips off at 9:30 p.m. CT.