The Minnesota Timberwolves have been clicking on all cylinders lately, and the next opponent to try to slow them down was the Portland TrailBlazers. Last night, the Timberwolves took care of the Bulls, and they used that momentum with the home crowd to try and do the same against Portland. The Timberwolves’ defense came out staggering, as the TrailBlazers weren’t able to get any flow on the offensive end. Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert came out swarming on defense, making it tough on Portland. The Wolves were able to showcase the ball movement and that was one of the huge factors in their big 28-point lead in this game. Anthony Edwards was locked in from the start and it carried to the finish as he was able to hit 9 (3-pointers) tonight against the Trail Blazers. It didn’t matter who was guarding Edwards when he’s locked in like he was tonight because that stepback jumper is new and improved with purpose. Anthony Edwards has become one of the best two-way players in the NBA and he continues to grow nightly.
Well, tonight Portland found out the hard way as Edwards was locking up any Portland player that he had on the matchup with ease. Anthony Edwards has been on a shooting spree as of late where he can’t miss and that continued tonight as he has been able to establish himself as one of the best in the league. Anthony Edwards finished with 37 points but he was able to get others involved as well. Julius Randle has been learning his way in this offense and it always helps to go against a team that hasn’t proven themselves yet like the TrailBlazers. Randle has been able to create his offense and he has been showcasing a lot of playmaking ability throughout these first games with Minnesota. When Randle gets into bully ball mode it’s special to see as the Trail Blazers didn’t have an answer for him down low. Rudy Gobert was able to get back in track as he was able to get 15 rebounds in the paint. Gobert’s offensive output has been hit or miss but his dominance on the defensive end especially on the boards tonight was on full display as he finished with 15 rebounds.
The Timberwolves got a huge jolt in offense tonight between Naz Reid & Donte Divincenzo as both combined for 29 points and shot 10/23 from the field. This was one of those trap games, especially after the win against the Bulls but Minnesota was able to answer the call. The Timberwolves hit 22 (3 Pointers) tonight with 9 of them coming from Ant-Man but when this team locks in on both sides like they have been doing anything is possible, The TrailBlazers have some young talented pieces over there with Simons, Henderson, and Camara. Tonight was one of those nights where anything that could go wrong was going wrong for Portland as they kept running into the situation of getting down close like to 9 and then Anthony Edwards would hit a huge shot to get the crowd back into the game.
The Timberwolves play against the Miami Heat next as the Wolves will be watching closely as they monitor the status of Jimmy Butler.
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