Portland Trail Blazers host limping Minnesota Timberwolves
By Ryan Allison
Tonight at 7:00 p.m. PST, the Portland Trail Blazers host the Minnesota Timberwolves in their penultimate regular season home game. The Trail Blazers made the quick trip to Brooklyn on Monday shorthanded and left with a loss. However; the team seems poised and ready to make some noise in the postseason. The Timberwolves, on the other hand, possess the longest active losing streak in the NBA (seven games) and are in the running for the worst record of the 2014-2015 season. The game can be seen on CSNNW and heard on Rip City Radio 620 AM.
As the NBA playoffs approach, there is no doubt teams are thinking about seeding and where they are positioned. Yet, the Trail Blazers, like many teams that are guaranteed a spot, tend to shift their focus to player health. Head Coach Terry Stotts told CSNNW reporter Jabari Young before Monday night’s game against the Nets that he isn’t going to comprise health for home court advantage in the playoffs. “Look, I’d prefer to have it,” Stotts said, “but last year we won our series without home-court.”
Stotts backed up his thinking by leaving Aldridge, Batum, and Chris Kaman back in Portland on Monday while the rest of the team traveled to Brooklyn for the make-up game. Those three players have been impacted by injury all season long and would benefit from even more rest. I’m a big believer in playing your best basketball going into the playoffs (looking at you, San Antonio!) so even though rest is needed, I would like to see those guys play out the rest of the regular season.
The Timberwolves are licking their chops at the chance that they could draw the worst record in the NBA, positioning them well for the number-one overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. They have lost their last seven games and have multiple “injuries” every night. My guess would be that they are not willing to play their players if they are dealing with a cold at this point. Just look at that injury report. However; this doesn’t mean that the players who are seeing court time aren’t taking advantage.
Martin, Wiggins, and LaVine are all benefitting from increased minutes. Wiggins is starting to show everyone why he was rated so high coming out of the University of Kansas. The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t regret dealing him to get LeBron James back, but Wiggins definitely has a lot to prove. He is averaging 16.5 points per game this season but in the last 10 games, he has been putting in 22.3 points. The 20 year-old rookie has all of the talent to make it big in this game.
Tonight’s game will be interesting as the Timberwolves are on their second of a back-to-back while the Trail Blazers play the first game in their own back-to-back set. They travel to Oakland tomorrow to take on the Warriors. This will be the fourth and final game of the season series with the Timberwolves, and surprisingly, the Timberwolves hold a 2-1 advantage, winning the last two. In the first game, the only one to be played at the Moda Center, the Trail Blazers won 107-93.
The focus of the Trail Blazers’ defense will be on Martin and Wiggins. Those assignments rest on Afflalo and Batum respectively and I expect them to handle their share of the load. Martin is coming off a season-high 37-point game. Batum on Wiggins will be a very good matchup. Both have length and can shoot or take you off the dribble. Ideally, Batum would force Wiggins into jump shots and keep him out of the paint.
I look for the Trail Blazers to win by double-digits tonight. The extended rest for Aldridge, Batum, and Kaman will hopefully show through and benefit the entire team. The Timberwolves have given up an average of 110.0 points in over their last six games and the their last 11 visits to Portland, they have allowed 110.3 points.