Live from the Moda Center as the Portland Trail Blazers host the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The kids are alright, they just aren’t that good yet. After trading away Kevin Love for the last two number one picks—Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins—the Wolves are once again going young and planning for the future. This team rebuilds so much, they might as well be the Minnesota Next Years.
Ricky Rubio is out indefinitely with a sprained ankle, Kevin Martin is out for a few months with a broken hand, and Nikola Pekovic is in and out of the lineup with various ailments. That leaves Mo Williams as the stabilizing veteran presence, and when Mo Williams is your stabilizing veteran presence, your team is in trouble. The future may be bright, but the present is bleak.
The Wolves are giving minutes to six players that are either rookies or have just a single year of experience. You know what rookies aren’t good at? Playing defense. You know who has the second worst defense in the league? Yep, you guessed it.
The holiday break must be over, because watching the terrible Wolves is going to feel like work.
PRE-GAME:
For the Blazers, losing on Friday to the Grizzlies was fine. The first game home after a road trip is always tough, and Memphis is playing some great basketball right now. If they win tonight’s game by anything less than twenty, then there might be a little trouble.
Make that thirty points. Mo Williams is battling pink eye, and Andrew Wiggins is a game-time decision with some sort of illness. If both of them can’t go, that leaves Minnesota with nine healthy players, and those nine names don’t inspire much confidence. Who’s ready for some Robbie Hummel action, y’all?
Will Barton is going to be out tonight with a DNP-TURKEY. Or, you know, he’s got a stomach bug from all the Thanksgiving goodness. Damian Lillard was feeling ill yesterday, so it sounds like it’s going around. It’s alright, guys—watching the Wolves makes me feel sick, too.
FIRST QUARTER:
10:07- The Blazers score off of a Robin Lopez rebound. He was able to secure it with ease, because the Wolves are playing freaking zone defense. Wow. 2-2 Tie.
8:07 – Yep, still a zone. And the Wolves have Mo Williams guarding LaMarcus Aldridge in the high post. This is not going to end well for Minnesota. 8-7 Blazers.
6:37 – Minnesota’s zone is gone (that sure lasted long), but so is Portland’s defense. Wesley Matthews fouled Mo Williams on a three-pointer which is a sentence that should never be typed ever. 13-10 Wolves.
5:35 – Nicolas Batum’s shot has been off to start this season. He’s had two good looks from deep already, but hasn’t been particularly close. Off of his last miss the Wolves were able to race down the court and score at the rim, and the Blazers need time. 15-10 Wolves.
4:19 – With 0.4 left on the shot clock, Batum threw the inbound pass to Allen Crabbe. Crabbe was thirty-five feet from the hoop, desperately chucked it up, and somehow banked home the triple. He earned that ear to ear grin he’s sporting. 17-15 Wolves.
2:00 – Portland’s offense is still suffering from a holiday hangover. Only nineteen points so far against this defense?! 24-19 Wolves.
0:00 – Steve Blake raced the length of the court in four seconds as the quarter was expiring, but he shoved his layup just a tad long. Boo. Not the best quarter for Portland, but luckily there’s three more of them left. 26-22 Wolves.
SECOND QUARTER:
11:45 – And Shabazz Muhammad starts the quarter with a poster dunk on Chris Kaman. Great. 28-22 Wolves.
9:41 – Hey, only two plus minutes to finally put some points on the board this quarter! Not bad! 30-24 Wolves.
9:04 – Wesley Matthews for three, and the crowd barely reacted. This place is as dead as it has been all year. 32-27 Wolves.
7:14 – Offsetting technical fouls for Joel Freeland and Shabazz Muhammad for raising their voices above a whisper. You do not shout during library hours, friends. 34-29 Wolves.
5:10 – Tie game. If the crowd could get into this one, we’d have a blowout on our hands. 36-36 Tie.
3:47 – Did Allen Crabbe sap Batum’s three-point skills? Crabbe pulled up in transition, without hesitation, and hit his third of the night. Batum is 0-4 on four great looks. 39-36 Blazers.
1:26 – Batum for three! Finally! Pack it up, this game is over. 44-40 Blazers.
0:00 – Steve Blake found himself at the rim again to end the quarter, but this time he dished to a streaking Aldridge. LaMarcus hit the layup with a fraction of a second left on the clock. Just like that, Portland is up eight and in control. 48-40 Blazers.
THIRD QUARTER:
11:33 – Wesley Matthews had Mo Williams guarding him in the post. Minnesota sent a double his way, but it didn’t even matter. Step-back, swish. 50-40 Blazers.
10:55 – Minnesota turnover. Nicolas Batum dunk. Minnesota timeout. 52-40 Blazers.
9:03 – The Blazers just ran a beautiful play to get Matthews an open three-pointer. Run that again. And again. And maybe just for the rest of the night, because Minnesota won’t figure it out. 55-46 Blazers.
7:48 – Dame throwing behind the back passes in transition dot tumblr dot com. 58-48 Blazers.
6:23 – Matthews got beat backdoor by Shabazz Muhammad, so of course Terry Stotts immediately called time. 61-53 Blazers.
4:15 – Dame erased a Gorgui Dieng shot from behind—Dieng didn’t see him coming, and Dame got so much air he practically blocked the thing with his elbow. 62-56 Blazers.
3:45 – Give Batum credit, he’s still firing from deep when he’s open. Sometimes you have to shoot off a slump, and that must be what he’s trying. He’s just 2-9 on the night, but two makes is two makes. 65-56 Blazers.
2:30 – Do you think Mo Williams looked at his team’s lineup tonight and started giggling maniacally? He has free reign to shoot at will, the dream he’s always wanted. 66-59 Blazers.
0:48 – Matthews for three. Dude has been unreal the last two games from behind the arc. 72-61 Blazers.
0:25 – Minnesota turnover, Aldridge and-one in transition. That’s more like it. This is the second-worst defense in the league, time to score some points. 75-61 Blazers.
0:00 – Steve Blake and the end of quarters are not friends tonight. Blake had another look as time expired. Granted, this one was from half-court, but he almost sunk it. The thing rattled around and almost fell. Dang. 75-61 Blazers.
FOURTH QUARTER:
10:41 – Matthews for three. Again. Okay, guys, new plan—let’s run plays to get the guy who is 5-8 from deep an open look. It hasn’t been hard thus far, and it won’t be hard moving forward. 80-64 Blazers.
8:54 – The Wolves look spent. They hoisted up an air ball on one end, then fouled Chris Kaman on the other. Their body language is that of a defeated team. Time to pile on. 84-68 Blazers.
7:29 – Shabazz Muhammad is having himself a game. He and Aldridge are leading all scorers with twenty-three points each. 89-75 Blazers.
6:48 – Why are the Blazers only up by nine in this game? It should be that, plus twenty. Timeout Portland, presumably so Coach Stotts can draw up a Rock N’ Jock twenty-pointer. 89-80 Blazers.
5:57 – The kid with the “Blazers Rule, Wolves Drule” sign is my spirit animal. He should probably be doing this live blog instead. 91-82 Blazers.
4:10 – Mo Williams tried to close on out Dame as he was shooting a three, but instead just ran into him. Don’t ever change, Mo. After this timeout, Lillard will have a chance at converting the four-point play. 96-85 Blazers.
2:50 – Batum had a huge chase down block on Muhammad. Shabazz fell out of bounds, so nobody bothered to guard him. Once he found his way to his feet, open, Mo Williams hit him with a pass for an easy dunk. He has 28 on the night. Unreal. 99-91 Blazers.
1:25 – Fans are heading to the exits. This one is over. What a lackluster game. 102-93 Blazers.
FINAL: 107-93 Blazers. Despite Shabazz Muhammad’s best efforts, this one was never in doubt. A thirty-point win would have been nice, but this will do just fine.