PORTLAND — Damian Lillard scored 29 points, Hassan Whiteside had 16 points, 22 rebounds and seven blocks, and the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-106 on Saturday night.
Andrew Wiggins scored a game-high 33 points for Minnesota.
Lillard set the tone again for the Blazers early, scoring 19 points in the first half to push Portland to a 61-52 halftime lead. One night after he had 36 points, Lillard continued to show why he’s one of the most feared guards in the NBA.
In addition to Lillard, co-star CJ McCollum had 26 points and swingman Kent Bazemore scored a season-high 19 for the Trail Blazers, who played without a banged-up Carmelo Anthony.
Minus injured All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns, the Minnesota offense continued to struggle early, particularly from outside as the Wolves missed nine of their first 10 3-point attempts. Gorgui Dieng helped things by making three 3-pointers and scoring 15 points. Shabazz Napier had 18 points and four assists, while Jeff Teague scored 18 off the bench.
Minnesota went on a 7-0 run to start the second half, fueled by Portland turnovers. After committing only five turnovers in the first half, the Blazers had five to begin the third quarter. Teague’s running 3 cut the Blazers’ lead to 83-80 at the third-quarter buzzer.
Another 3-pointer by Teague tied the game at 83 at the 11:02 mark of the fourth quarter. He scored 12 straight points for Minnesota before being subbed out.
Minnesota tied the game two more times in the fourth before Portland pulled away. A basket from Lillard and a 3-pointer from McCollum pushed Portland ahead 98-93 with 5:24 left.
The Blazers kept the Wolves at arm’s length for the rest of the game as Minnesota never again got closer than three.
Whiteside’s rebound and putback gave Portland a 107-100 lead with 41 seconds left to put the game away.
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: For the third straight game the Timberwolves were without Towns, their leading scorer. His injury has forced coach Ryan Saunders to tinker with his lineups, such as moving Teague to a sixth-man role off the bench to help power the reserves to 44 points on Friday. “It makes a big difference,” Saunders said of the extra bench scoring. “Obviously, we’re missing a big piece in Karl and we just ask for daily growth. We just ask these guys to compete. We felt good coming out of the game last night.” Saunders said Towns was “progressing” but didn’t offer much more.
Trail Blazers: After banging knees against Orlando on Friday, Carmelo Anthony was ruled out for this one. Anthony left Friday’s game in the second quarter and did not return. After working out a little bit on Saturday morning, Anthony made the determination not to play. “He got treatment this morning just to see how things felt and it just wasn’t quite right,” coach Terry Stotts said. Anthony is averaging 16 points and six rebounds per game while shooting 41.7% on 3-pointers.
UP NEXT
Trail Blazers host the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday.
