Centers go down one by one, Wolves lose 107-102 at Portland

First, Darko Milicic lasted about a second, as long as it took him to leap for Friday's evening's opening jump ball and then came down smack on LaMarcus Aldridge's foot, his ankle twisting painfully in the process.

Then, Nikola Pekovic played all of two minutes before he, too, injured his ankle and left the game as well.

Milicic's jump at the opening tip caused Kurt Rambis to immediately call upon little-used Kosta Koufos a minute into a game that featured the long, athletic Blazers frontline that include LaMarcus Aldridge.

Without either Darko or Pek to bang Aldridge or make him work, the Blazers' 6-11 power forward dunked and shot and rebounded over the Wolves seemingly at will.

His 36 points tied his career high, and came just one game after he scored 35 against Dallas.

In fact, Aldridge's 36-point, 10-rebound game made him the first player since Chris Bosh at the start of last season to get 35 points and 10 rebounds in consecutive games.

Even Michael Beasley was asked sometimes to stop Aldridge.

When Aldridge wasn't doing that, Rudy Fernandez was coming off the bench, shooting and driving and even making one important four-point play in the fourth quarter that helped the Blazers turn a four-point lead into a 94-84 advantage with 7:31 left.

Fernandez's 26 points were his career high.

Kevin Love and Martell Webster returned to Portland -- Love grew up there, Webster played his first five NBA seasons there -- and each put up big numbers but found little satisfaction in yet one more loss, the Wolves' 10th consecutive on the road.

Webster scored 19 points in 30 minutes -- highs each in this, his third game back from back surgery -- on 7 for 15 shooting, with nine rebounds, two assists and six turnovers.

Love hadn't played at the Rose Garden since his rookie season and for the first time as a pro delivered a Kevin Love kind of game: 19 points, 17 rebounds, his 13th conseutive double-double with at least 14 rebounds.

Asked if he had ever seen a player lost for the game on the opening tip, Love said, "Not like that. That was unbelievable. I was like, `Oh, man, here we go again.' Bad luck with that. I was going for the tip and next thing I know, he's on his back."

At some point tonight, you almost expected Rambis to send Bill Laimbeer out there.

"We needed another big in there," Love said. "It hurts our rotation because having Pek in there, he's a big boy. And with Darko, he's such a presence in there, the best shot-blocker in the league. I don't know how long those guys are out, but we'll be hurt if they're out."

That's all I got from Portland for tonight.

Here's the game story from Friday night

There was no immediate word on the extent of the ankle injuries to both players after Friday's game, but knowing ankles and knowing how both players have been playing on gimpy ones lately, I wouldn't bet much that either will play against the Nuggets.

We'll know more pre-game Saturday.