The Portland Trail Blazers are coming into this game against the Minnesota Timberwolves following a back to back where they lost by 62. The Timberwolves played a tough game in Boston without Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert.
Tonight Rudy Gobert reminded everyone how dominant he can be in the paint. Rudy was able to set the tone in this game against Portland as he grabbed rebound after rebound and had about 5 slam dunks. The best dunk of the night from Rudy came from the lob from Anthony Edwards where he had to reach way back to get it. The crowd and his teammates went crazy for that. On the night Rudy Gobert finished with 24 points and 17 rebounds. Karl-Anthony Towns had himself a nasty dunk as well on Badji that was crazy. KAT has been aggressive to the paint on this stretch of games and it has put the Wolves in a great position. KAT has been special inside and out and tonight he was able to put that on full display against a Portland team that had no answer for the big men without Ayton.
Naz Reid was able to lead the bench in scoring with 14 points and he was an instant offense boost tonight. It was clear that the Portland Trail Blazers didn’t have an answer for the bigs of Minnesota tonight. The great thing about this win was the fact that Anthony Edwards was able to just be in full playmaker mode as he only took 9 shots and finished with 9 points. When your best player only has 9 points and you were up by 36 points at one point thats very impressive.
The Portland Trail Blazers are a young team and they have some time to grow as a unit. They had a couple of bright spots tonight like Simons, Henderson, Camara, and Reath. The Timberwolves have been on a mission all year and Portland ran into Minnesota’s get right game. The leading scorer for the Portland Trail Blazers was Reath he was able to make some good plays in the paint but the Timberwolves slowed down Simons/Henderson on the night.
The Minnesota Timberwolves will be facing the LA Clippers next as the Clips are coming in winning 17 of the last 20 games. It should make for a serious Western Conference matchup in Minnesota on Sunday. Look for Paul George and Anthony Edwards to duel it out together.
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