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."
