PORTLAND, Ore. _ Whether one of them gets there remains uncertain, but the Minnesota Timberwolves' 105-98 loss at Portland Thursday felt a little like something called the playoffs.
For the Blazers, it meant a much-needed comeback victory before a boisterous home crowd that pushed them 1{ games ahead of Denver in pursuit of the Western Conference's eighth and final playoff spot with just six days left in the regular season.
For the Wolves, it was their second game in four days _ and their third in 12 days _ against Portland, the kind of familiarity usually only experienced between two teams come playoff times.
It also was the 21st time this season that the Wolves lost a double-digit lead and the 15th time it was by more than 15 points, their advantage early in Thursday's third quarter.
Those 21 lost double-digit lead are the most by an NBA team in the last two decades.
This time, they were undone not by the Blazers' dangerous CJ McCollum-Damian Lillard, but rather by backup guard Allen Crabbe, who made four of his career-high eight three-pointers and scored 13 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Andrew Wiggins scored 36 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 16 rebounds. None of it was enough to beat a Blazers team that badly needed to win while it plays small and fends off Denver without injured big man Jusuf Nurkic.
The two teams met yet again Thursday because of that March game postponed by unsafe court conditions at Target Center.
Such familiarity isn't all that far off from the playoffs, when a team might play an opponent seven times in a matter of days.
"We're eliminated, but I like the fact that we're playing this team three times in a short amount of time," Thibodeau said before Thursday's game. "This is about as close as you can get to simulating the playoffs, playing the same team over and over so you know everything they're doing and they know everything you're doing. Then it's all about can you execute? We have to use this as part of a our learning. I want us to do that."
The Wolves on Thursday once again led by as many as 15 points early in the third quarter, but the Blazers used a 10-0 run to get back in the game. When they pulled within as few as two points with 2:12 left in the quarter, the Wolves pushed back by scoring the next seven points that helped them take an 87-80 lead into the fourth quarter.
It was in that fourth quarter Crabbe made three consecutive three-pointers for the Blazers and made a free throw for good measure when he was fouled on the first one.
Just like that, the Wolves' seven-point lead after three quarter became Portland's 92-89 lead with 8{ minutes remaining. When he made yet another three _ the fourth in a matter of mere minutes _ Portland led 97-91 midway through the fourth quarter and the Wolves never got closer than five points again.
Crabbe's eight threes tie him with Washington's Bojan Bogdanovic, Houston's Eric Gordon and Cleveland's Kyle Korver for most by any player off the bench this season.
The Wolves lost 112-100 at Portland nearly two weeks ago and won 110-109 Monday night at Target Center in a game rescheduled because ice laid under the court and unusually warm and humid winter day caused condensation that left the wooden floor still slippery to play.
On Thursday, the Wolves squandered the chance to finish the four-game season series against the Blazers tied.
Portland is in the midst of a four-game stretch where they play the Wolves and Utah alternatively and then do did it all over again starting with Thursday's game.
"It some ways it makes the prep easier because you don't have to watch their last five games," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "You just look at the last time you played them. It's similar in a way to the playoffs, but you just know so much more about that team in your preparation for Game 1 of a playoff series. You don't have that type of preparation like the last time, we played Minnesota."
