For the third straight game, the Minnesota Timberwolves came from behind and knocked out a massive deficit, but for the second consecutive time, they failed to come out with the win.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have played terribly on defense early in the last three games, but have been equally as impressive for much of the rest of the games on both ends of the floor.
Unfortunately, 20-point holes are hard to dig out of, no matter how good the offense is as the game wears on.
For the third consecutive game, the Wolves dug themselves a massive hole early in the game, this time trailing by as many as 21 points. And for the third straight time, they were able to dig out, even building a modest five-point lead in the second half of this one.
But Portland, who is jockeying for playoff position in the Western Conference surged back ahead and quickly regained a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. An off night from Karl-Anthony Towns was really all it took for the Wolves to succumb as the game wore on.
The Trail Blazers got a weird triple-double from bench player Evan Turner, who tallied 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists in just 25 minutes. Minnesota did a decent job defensively on Damian Lillard, who finished with 15 points on just 6-of-17 shooting and committed five turnovers but dished out 12 assists.
The Wolves were led in scoring by inefficient performances from Andrew Wiggins (21 points on 18 shots) and Towns (17 points on 21 shots). Gorgui Dieng was actually the team’s second-leading scorer with 18 points off the bench; Dieng was a huge part of the third-quarter comeback on both ends of the floor.
At the end of the day, despite the second-half flurry, the Wolves were simply out-manned, even by a battered Blazers squad.
The rest of the players
Keita Bates-Diop played only 13 minutes and had seven points and one rebound, while Cameron Reynolds had seven points, two rebounds, one steal and one assist in 21 minutes.
Newcomer Mitch Creek, who signed a 10-day contract over the weekend, did not see the floor although he was active at the expensive of veteran two-way contract player C.J. Williams.
What’s Next?
The Timberwolves head to Dallas to take on the Mavericks at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. We’ll have game coverage for y’all, so stay tuned.