Wolves can't sustain momentum in loss to Portland

More than once already this fairly young season, the Timberwolves, with one voice or another, have stated that the best thing about the NBA is that there's often another game tomorrow or the next day.

Sunday's 107-93 loss at Portland suggested that also can be one of the worst things.

Only 48 hours earlier, they outscored the Lakers in Los Angeles by a point with rookie Zach LaVine more than doubling his previous career scoring high with 28 points.

On Sunday, LaVine played fewer than 11 minutes and went scoreless, proving Wolves coach Flip Saunders' pregame point that every rookie's breakout scoring game is not followed by another that even closely resembles it.

Even though rookie Andrew Wiggins played with what he thought was food poisoning, the Wolves led Portland by eight points in the second quarter, and the Trail Blazers have only lost twice at home this season.

Then with a second unit on the floor that included LaVine at point guard, the Blazers changed the game with a 17-2 run over the second quarter's final six minutes that turned a 32-24 deficit with 9½ minutes left into a 48-40 halftime lead.

Afterward, Saunders lamented quick turnovers and poor shot selection during that stretch in which the game got away.

While Wiggins was limited to 18 minutes, second-year forward Shabazz Muhammad spelled him at small forward and scored a career-high 28 points off the bench. It could have been more had he not missed four of eight free throws.

"Yeah, it did seem like 28," Muhammad said. "But I missed a couple free throws that could have helped us get back in the game. That's something I have to work on."

LaVine played 10:48 Sunday while point guard Mo Williams played exactly 40 minutes — far more than the 25-minute target he and his coach had when the season began – in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the Wolves in the game.

"We didn't get much production from Zach," Saunders said, referring to LaVine's 0-for-3 shooting night that also included two fouls, two turnovers and a steal. "He didn't get a bounce off his last game. He struggled tonight getting us into an offense and they went after him. They went at him defensively as much as anything. That's part of the learning process. We went from where the game should have been a two-, four-point game to where we were down eight. We lost momentum by halftime."

The Blazers pushed their lead to 14 points by third quarter's end, then to 16 points early in the fourth quarter and the Wolves never got closer than seven points again. Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge provided 26 points and 15 rebounds and guard Wes Matthews (23 points) became the first player in NBA history to make six three-pointers in three consecutive games.

The Wolves effectively mixed up their zone and man-to-man defenses, but still were overcome by the Blazers (13-4).

Williams played all but three minutes after halftime while Saunders mostly rested Wiggins for Monday against the Clippers back in Los Angeles.

"I played 40 minutes?" said Williams, who delivered 21 points and 11 assists for his second consecutive 20-10 game. "Damn. … Flip knows I'm a team guy. I'll do whatever it takes until we get back healthy."