PORTLAND, Ore. _ One reason the Minnesota Timberwolves were optimistic headed into their four-game road trip was that they were humming ever since Robert Covington and Dario Saric joined the team. The Wolves had defeated Portland, their opponent Saturday, by 16 at Target Center with both in the lineup and were primed to avenge a season-low 30-point loss at the Moda Center.
Except Covington wasn't available _ he was a late scratch Saturday because of right knee soreness.
Despite a gutsy effort, the Wolves couldn't outlast Portland, which got clutch baskets in the final moments from Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum for a 113-105 victory.
Andrew Wiggins had 20 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota. The score was tied 105-105 late in the fourth when Taj Gibson missed a corner 3 with 1 minute, 14 seconds remaining. Lillard came down and drained a 3 on the other end. Derrick Rose followed that with a miss from the same spot as Gibson and McCollum iced the game with another 3 with 25.6 seconds remaining.
Lillard and McCollum had 28 and 19 points, respectively.
With Covington out of the lineup it was going to be harder for the Wolves on the defensive end of the floor, especially against a potent offense like Portland. To compound matters, Towns picked up two fouls in the first 3 minutes, 8 seconds of the game.
It had the makings of a long night for the Wolves, and Portland took advantage when Towns exited. After trailing 10-7, the Blazers ripped off eight straight points, prompting Tom Thibodeau to call timeout. The Blazers led for the rest of the quarter, but the Wolves were able to hang around and prevent a blowout thanks in part to Wiggins, who was aggressive in hunting his shot on the offensive end. Wiggins scored nine points in the first quarter to lead the Wolves while the bench played a steady few minutes toward the end of the quarter. The Wolves trailed just 30-27 after the first.
Covington's absence meant one lucky Timberwolf was going to graduate from the bench to Thibodeau's nine-man rotation for Saturday's game and to the delight of fans on social media that player was rookie Josh Okogie. Okogie played his first meaningful minutes in a close game since Nov. 14 against the New Orleans Pelicans. Okogie brought his usual dose of frenetic energy on both ends of the floor and if he made a mistake, it wasn't going to be for lack of trying. He defended well in the first half and upon Towns re-entering the game early in the second quarter, helped the Wolves stay within 53-51 at the half.
The Blazers focused their defensive attention on Towns and frequently doubled him when he had the ball. One of Covington's strength on offense was his ability to stretch the floor and provide solid 3-point shooting. Early in the second half, the Wolves offense stagnated as Towns tried to deal with the double teams the Blazers went up by nine, their largest lead of the night to that point. They would lead by 10 before the Wolves made another push, going on a 12-3 run to trim the deficit to one.
Wiggins, who passed Wally Szczerbiak for fourth on the Wolves all-time scoring list, helped spark the run, getting downhill and to the basket for layups while Gibson provided a few putbacks and layups around the basket. A Saric 3-pointer and a bucket from Towns would give the Wolves their first lead at 80-79 since the score was 10-7. The Wolves would build a small lead in the fourth, thanks to a 3-pointer from Okogie and an athletic play in which he passed the ball to himself off the backboard. The Wolves led 102-96, but the lead wouldn't last.
