The undermanned Minnesota Timberwolves fell to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night, 117-110 at Target Center.
The Wolves played without Kevin Love, Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic. Love missed the game with a bruised quadriceps. Pekovic is still out with bursitis in his ankle and the Wolves announced Martin is out indefinitely with a broken thumb.
Still, the Wolves made a game out of it for three quarters. In the fourth Portland was able to pull away to the victory.
Wes Matthews was a big reason why the Blazers (36-15) were able to pull away. He finished with 21 points, 12 of those points came in the decisive quarter. LaMarcus Aldridge led the way for Portland with 26
With all of the offense out, Ricky Rubio stepped up his offensive output. He scored a career-high 25 points and also dished out nine assists in the game. Other Wolves stepped up too Corey Brewer finished with 26, Dante Cunningham posted a double-double scoring 14 points and 13 rebounds.
It was also the first real extended playing time for Wolves first-round draft pick Shabazz Muhammed. He impressed scoring 12 points.
But in the end, the Wolves didn’t have the fire power to stick with the Blazers. Minnesota (34-37) drops back to 3-games below .500.
