Teen Wolves Wiggins, LaVine have growth spurt in win

Fellow first-round draft picks Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine remain teenagers even after Wednesday's 90-82 victory over Portland, but both they and their Timberwolves teammates just might not be the same as they were before the night began at Target Center.

Losers of six consecutive games, the Wolves held an opponent that had won 14 of its previous 15 games to just 36 first-half points, only 51 by third quarter's end, and they led by as many as 20 points before the Trail Blazers pushed back hard late in the game without ultimate success.

In the process, Wiggins delivered the first double-double — 23 points, 10 rebounds — of his young career, and LaVine exorcised memories of a scoreless, eight-minute performance the first time he played Portland 10 days earlier with a 35-minute, 10-point, five-assist night on Wednesday.

"Baby Wolves grew up a little bit at times tonight," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said.

They did so with a rather unconventional game plan that double-teamed Blazers star LaMarcus Aldridge, fronting him at every turn while bringing another defender from the baseline in an attempt to force the ball out of his hands. They did so even if that taunts a team with so many deft three-point shooters. The Blazers went 10-for-35 on threes in a game when Corey Brewer's energy and newly signed Jeff Adrien's 26 minutes off the bench helped the home team prevail.

"You always have a game plan," Saunders said. "It doesn't mean you can always execute it."

Aldridge went scoreless in a first half for the first time since February 2008, made only three of 14 shots during a 10-point, nine-rebound night. Neither he nor his teammates found their verve, even if they did get within 78-74 with 4:09 left but came no further against a team led by two teenagers.

"Shoot, I don't know," LaVine said when asked if he felt noticeably older after just two-plus hours. "I still feel 19. I know I look like I'm 16."

Portland's 82 points were the fewest the Wolves have allowed in a game this season, and the fewest they've allowed the Blazers since a 84-74 victory nine years ago this month.

Their defense held the Blazers to season lows for points in a quarter (15 in the third), points in a half and game as well as field goals and field-goal percentage (38.8 percent). That and Wiggins' growth, particularly in the fourth quarter, beat Portland for only the second time in the past 10 meetings between the teams.

"Wiggins looked like the No. 1 pick tonight," Saunders said. "Just in his ability to get shots, to take things over, to take big shots at the end. He went and got 10 rebounds, got on the floor for a couple loose balls, a couple steals, four assists. He knew we were going to him in the fourth quarter, and he came and delivered."

When the Blazers reduced a 60-40 deficit to only four points late in the game, Wiggins answered by scoring the next five points that repelled the Blazers and pushed the lead back to nine with 3:14 left.

"I feel great, I feel a lot better every game, every second on the floor I'm learning a lot," said Wiggins, who has surpassed 20 points in consecutive games. "I feel comfortable. I know my team is always going to be there. We made big plays together. It wasn't just me. … I wanted it, I didn't want to lose. Ricky [Rubio] came over to me and said, 'We've got to win this game.' I was determined to win."

Saunders quibbled about his young star's 5-for-10 shooting from the free-throw line that included three misses in his nine-point fourth quarter. But he praised his progress in nearly every other area.

"For the first time I saw emotion when he made a shot," Saunders said. "He came back and he kind of jumped up."

Wiggins confirmed it so.

"Yeah," he said. "Hit a big shot, got happy."