The Portland Trail Blazers faced a Minnesota Timberwolves team missing multiple starters on Saturday evening, notably All-Star scorers Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. The Blazers had little pity; they’ve played with cobbled-together rotations most of the season.
Predictably, Minnesota had a hard time scoring against Portland’s newly-surging defense. The offense sputtered early but finally caught fire. Once they started pouring in points, the Blazers went up by 15 and looked to be on their way to an easy victory. But Minnesota dominated the fourth period with physical play and clutch buckets. When the final horn sounded, Portland stood on the wrong end of a 114-98 final score, not shocking in the context of their overall season but plenty humbling given their recent success.