Wolves hand hapless Blazers another blowout loss

Field Level Media|published: Fri 12th January, 22:46 2024

Jan 12, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) looks for a teammate defended by Portland Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara (33) in the first quarter at Target Center. credits: Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

Rudy Gobert scored a season-high 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting and collected 17 rebounds as the Minnesota Timberwolves steamrolled the wobbly Portland Trail Blazers 116-93 on Friday night at Minneapolis.

Karl-Anthony Towns added 23 points on 7-of-8 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds as Minnesota never trailed while improving to 15-2 at home. Naz Reid scored 14 points off the bench and Mike Conley had 10 assists for the Timberwolves, who entered with a season-worst stretch of four losses in six games.

Times continue to be bad for Portland, which has lost three straight games by a staggering 113 total points. The Trail Blazers were pounded 139-77 by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night with the 62-point margin tying for the fifth-largest defeat in NBA history.

The Trail Blazers completed a seven-game road trip with a 1-6 record and the six losses were by an average of 33.1 points. All the defeats were by more than 20 points.

Backup Jabari Walker had 17 points and a career-best 13 rebounds on Friday for Portland. Toumani Camara and Duop Reath had 14 points apiece and Jerami Grant scored 13 for the Trail Blazers.

Minnesota made 55 percent of its shots, including 11 of 31 from 3-point range.

Portland connected on 39 percent of its attempts and was 10 of 28 from behind the arc. Anfernee Simons missed all 10 of his shots from the field while scoring just five points.

Minnesota scored the first 11 points and led 14-1 before Portland made its first field goal.

The Timberwolves led 29-7 after a basket by Anthony Edwards with 4:24 left in the first quarter before settling for a 36-15 lead entering the second period.

The Trail Blazers moved within 48-39 before Gobert scored eight straight points on three dunks and two free throws to give Minnesota a 17-point advantage with 2:03 left in the first half.

The Timberwolves led 63-42 at the break as Gobert and Towns each had 16 points. Gobert made 7 of 8 shots in the half and collected 10 rebounds. Grant scored 12 in the half for Portland.

Gobert had eight points and seven rebounds in the third quarter as Minnesota increased its lead to 88-57 entering the final stanza.

The Timberwolves' lead topped out at 36 points.

—Field Level Media