Timberwolves at Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers are trying to avoid a three-game losing streak at the wrong point in the season when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday. Portland is battling the Denver Nuggets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and its lead took a hit with the two straight defeats, including a 110-109 loss at Minnesota on Monday.
The road setback against the Timberwolves in a rescheduled game was bad enough, but the Trail Blazers were throttled 106-87 by the host Utah Jazz in another damaging performance on Tuesday. "We're ready to go home and finish the season out strong and we know that we control what happens," standout point guard Damian Lillard told reporters in reference to a season-ending four-game homestand. Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns scored 34 points and small forward Andrew Wiggins added 29 in Monday's victory -- the Timberwolves' first in three meetings against Portland this season. Minnesota opened a four-game road trip by being outclassed 121-107 by the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (31-46): After a strong offensive month in which he averaged 17.8 points and shot 47.2 percent from the field, point guard Ricky Rubio is struggling with his shot in April. He is just 9-for-34 from the field while averaging 12.3 points in three April outings and his streak of four consecutive double-doubles ended when he had 15 points and five assists in the loss to Golden State. Towns is averaging 30 points over the past five games, while Wiggins is averaging 28 points over the last four contests.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (38-40): Portland remains without center Jusuf Nurkic (fractured leg), who re-energized a lackluster campaign after being acquired from Denver, and his loss is being exposed by opposing big men. Towns operated at will by hitting 15-of-25 shots on Monday and Utah standout Rudy Gobert recorded 20 points (6-of-6 shooting) on Tuesday as Meyers Leonard proved incapable of matching up with either player. Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts turned to power forward Noah Vonleh and small forward Al-Farouq Aminu to try to plug the gap without much success.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Trail Blazers won 20 of their past 22 home games against the Timberwolves.
2. Minnesota backup SF Shabazz Muhammad established season highs of 24 points and 11 rebounds in the loss to the Warriors.
3. Portland F Maurice Harkless tallied just two points against Utah after averaging 15.7 over the previous three games.