after a bitter defeat Denver Nuggets on thursday portland trailblazers rebound on Saturday, Minnesota Timberwolves 124-118 at Moda Center.
The Timberwolves had a disappointing start to the season, but have been playing better lately without Karl-Anthony Towns, who will miss at least a month with a calf strain.
Damian Lillard didn’t have the best shooting night (9-22), but he had a perfect 15-15 win from the foul line and had a game-high 36 points with eight assists and two steals. Anphanie Simmons won the Wolves’ “Battle of the Alis” against Anthony Edwards, who finished with 26 points, adding 31 points in a great response to his worst game of the season.
first quarter
The Blazers were determined to get Simmons involved in the attack early on, and he was able to make it happen. Simmons scored a dunk from a set of out-of-bounds plays to put Portland on the board, and followed suit at angle three a few trips later. It was necessary as both sides were eager to hit the long ball despite the marginal results. Yusuf Nurkic and Jayden McDaniels traded mistakes twice, leaving Minnesota with only a 9-7 advantage about halfway through the period.
After Simmons went to the bench, it was Lillard’s turn to take over as a thorn in the wolf’s paw. He started his 0-3 from deep, but Dame cut into the defense’s teeth as an effective driver and fouled most of the damage out of her line. Lillard had a flawless 7-7 record from his stripes this quarter, finishing with 11 points and keeping the Blazers on pace as the Wolves began to heat up.
Drew Eubanks received a few Lillard dimes to set up easy dunks, but Nas Reid quickly answered with a bucket of midrange as the reserves essentially stopped.
After a few more freebies, an acrobatic, -1 circus shot from Lillard in the final minute made the difference and gave Portland a 32–27 lead.
Second quarter
After his return, Simmons remained a Blazers man, teaming with Jerami Grant to score the home team’s first 15 points in the quarter. Simmons seemed to have that extra oomph in his steps as he darts around the pick, shoots the ball with confidence, converts a beautiful running floater in the lane, and then continues with a 3 without hesitation. I was.
Anthony Edwards found the answer on the other side, knocking down a pair of triples of his own and launching Minnesota’s attack alongside D’Angelo Russell. Two of his three shots from Russell put the Wolves within two of him midway through the period at 49-47, and that momentum continued to build after Portland’s timeout.
Shadon Sharpe’s one-handed alley-oop dunk got the crowd on their feet, but the frenzy was quickly deflated by Reid and Edwards’ easy back-to-back buckets at the rim, giving Minnesota their first lead of the quarter. .
More free throws from Dame stopped the bleeding, but the Wolves held onto a 66-65 lead heading into the break.
third quarter
For most of the period, Portland was stuck trying to keep up with Edwards, and at times it must have felt like stopping the bulldozer with tissue paper. Edwards, who has a good physique, has a high load, then some load, and is very difficult to slow down as he tries to hit the basket with his head down. That task becomes even more difficult on nights, like tonight, when outside shots of him fall. He scored 13 points in third as the Wolves slowly extended their lead to 10 points with five minutes remaining.
But it saw the Blazers close the gap behind Lillard, Drew Eubanks and more free throws at the end of the quarter. With 14 seconds left on him, Eubanks fired Tomahawk his jam past Rudy Gobert to regain Portland’s lead at 94–92 and set the table for a hotly contested final frame.
4th quarter
Simmons continued to roll, starting the fourth, converting with a running floater to open the period, sweeping the lane and scoring a Kareem-like skyhook to extend the Blazers’ lead to 8 at 105-97. rice field.
Minnesota fought back by shoving the ball into Gobert and was able to use lengths like Gumby to beat Nurkic one-on-one, but by this point the Wolves had more than their hard-earned two. I needed it.
Lillard’s straight 3-point contested was a play of the game, and Portland never gave up, taking a 118-113 lead with two and a half minutes remaining. From there, the Blazers milked the clock to play a free-throw game and grab the win.
next
Stay tuned for an extended summary coming soon.
The Blazers will have a rematch at home against the Wolves on Monday at 7:00 PM PT.
