Timberwolves, lacking Anthony Edwards among others, roar past Trail Blazers

Jerry Zgoda, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Feb 8, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Timberwolves made Saturday at Target Center Naz Reid bobblehead night, and the defending NBA Sixth Man of the Year turned needed starter made it a party in a 114-98 victory over Portland.

On a night his team was without several usual starters — including All-Star guard Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle — Reid made five 3-point shots, delivered an important steal late in the game and fed Jaden McDaniels for an on-the-run dunk that gave the Wolves a double-digit lead at 104-93, with 2:06 left.

The Wolves trailed by as many as 15 points and remained behind by 13 late in the third quarter before Reid made all five of his 3-pointers (on nine attempts) coming out of the third quarter and into the fourth.

And his fifth gave the Wolves a 96-93 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left that they never lost.

The Wolves led by 14 before it was all done after they had trailed by 15 earlier. They extended their win streak to three games.

Reid’s third 3 of the night brought the Wolves within 89-87 early in the fourth. His fourth made 3-pointer got the Wolves within 91-90 with less than eight minutes left before the Blazers countered with a 3 of their own to briefly extend their lead to four points.

The Wolves played on without Edwards as well as veteran point guard Mike Conley on Saturday.

Edwards missed his second game in the past five games after he had played every one this season before that. He was out because of right hip soreness.

When asked if he expects Edwards’ injury to be a short-term problem, coach Chris Finch said: “It’s certainly day-to-day right now. It’s more cautious than anything else.”

Without him, Conley, Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, rookie point guard Rob Dillingham started his first NBA game and did so alongside Nickeil Alexander-Walker, McDaniels, Reid and Rudy Gobert.

Edwards had scored 49 and 41 points in his past two games, wins over Chicago and Houston.

He was ill for the team’s 105-103 loss to last-place Washington — which had lost 16 consecutive games — on Feb. 1.

Conley is out because of a right index finger sprain. Randle has a groin strain, DiVincenzo a great toe sprain.

The first time these teams met this season, the Blazers won back-to-back games in Portland in mid-November, a low point of the Wolves’ young season. They were 8-9 and the Blazers 5-8 after those two games.

The Trail Blazers arrived Saturday 23-29 and 13th in the 15-team Western Conference.

But they also had won nine of their past 10 games and six consecutively.

On Saturday, they trailed 16-7 midway through the first quarter before a 15-8 burst brought them within 24-22 by quarter’s end.

With starting guard Anfernee Simons and reserve Shaedon Sharpe providing the pulse, the Blazers used a 38-25 second quarter to take a lead that grew as big as 15 points before halftime.

Sharpe had 13 points by halftime and Simons 10, while McDaniels led the Wolves with 12 first-half points,

The Wolves countered by making a run of their own, right out of halftime.

Their opening 13-5 run brought them within 65-60 with just three minutes gone in the second half.

The Wolves fell back behind as many as 13 points before they started slinging 3s to end the third and start the fourth quarter. Reid made one with 14.6 seconds left in the third and another in the fourth quarter’s first 20 seconds.

Jaylen Clark made a third consecutive, followed by a Gobert put-back jam and ensuing three-point play, and suddenly it was a one-point game, the Blazers leading 86-85 with fewer than 10 minutes left.