Timberwolves-Trail Blazers Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Mar 31 2012 4:19PM

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been unable to string together consecutive wins since the last time they faced the Portland Trail Blazers, but it's been even longer since the Blazers won two in a row.

While neither of these struggling Northwest Division teams will be able to accomplish that feat Sunday night in Portland, one will pick up a much-needed victory.

Minnesota goes for the season sweep as it returns to the Rose Garden for the first time since ending a lengthy skid in this series.

In search of their first playoff berth since 2003-04, the Timberwolves (25-28) matched a season high with their third straight victory March 7, 106-94 over Portland (24-28).

However, since moving into eighth place in the Western Conference with that victory - its first in nine tries at home against the Trail Blazers - Minnesota has gone 4-9 to fall to 11th.

The Timberwolves open their two-game stretch on the road after losing for the third time in four home games, 100-79 to Atlantic Division-leading Boston on Friday.

"We've haven't won the games we needed to win here," coach Rick Adelman told the Timberwolves' official website. "Now we have to go on the road again."

Traveling to Oregon wouldn't usually give Adelman's team much optimism, but Minnesota ended an 11-game slide in Portland and 0-for-16 stretch in this series with a 122-110 victory March 3.

All-Star forward Kevin Love, who grew up in Lake Oswego just south of the Rose Garden, scored 42 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in that contest. He'll go for a seventh consecutive double-double against his hometown team after scoring 29 points and 16 boards March 7.

Love might have to shoulder even more of the scoring and rebounding load Sunday with Nikola Pekovic (ankle) and Michael Beasley (foot) questionable.

Portland, though, might not have All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge in the lineup for a second consecutive game due to a hyperextended elbow suffered in Thursday's 99-93 victory over New Orleans.

If Aldridge can't go, J.J. Hickson will likely be in the starting five again after recording season highs with 29 points and 13 rebounds Friday in a 98-97 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Blazers were targeting their first back-to-back wins since Jan. 23-24.

"It means nothing when you don't win," said Hickson, who is averaging 16.0 points and 5.8 boards in five games with the Blazers after being waived by Sacramento on March 19. "I would have loved to have gotten the win and been in here laughing and talking about it, but it's tough when you don't win after playing a great ballgame. It kind of goes down the drain."

If Portland opens its three-game homestand with a victory, it will move percentage points ahead of Minnesota.

Should the Timberwolves win, it will be their first season sweep of the Blazers since 2004-05.

Aldridge leads Blazers to 119-106 win over Wolves

By ANNE M. PETERSON
Posted Apr 02 2012 1:09AM

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) LaMarcus Aldridge will keep the words he had with Minnesota's Kevin Love to himself.

The two All-Stars jawed at times on Sunday night, when both scored 26 points but Aldridge's Trail Blazers came out on top, 119-106.

"It was just two guys going hard," the diplomatic Aldridge said.

Love also had nine rebounds for the Timberwolves, who have dropped eight of their last 10 games. He also brushed off the back-and-forth with Aldridge, explaining it was probably something the Blazers' star did to "get his team going, get the fans into it."

Nicolas Batum added 24 points for the Blazers, who like the Timberwolves are fighting to stay in the playoff picture.

Portland continues to adjusting to the dismissal of coach Nate McMillan and the trade of starters Marcus Camby and Gerald Wallace at the deadline. Portland is now 5-5 under interim head coach Caleb Canales, who has been juggling with his roster.

On Sunday, the Blazers started J.J. Hickson, who was picked up on March 21 after he was waived by Sacramento.

"We played a good game, played sound defense, we controlled the rebounds," Batum said. "And we controlled Kevin Love."

The Timberwolves used nine players as they battle injuries, including the loss of rookie Ricky Rubio for the season.

Minnesota guard J.J. Barea was out for the fifth straight game with a bruised right quadriceps and forward Michael Beasley missed his third game with a sprained big toe on his left foot.

Center Nikola Pekovic, who has missed six games with bone spurs in his right ankle, was with the team on it short two-game road trip to Portland and Sacramento, but coach Rick Adelman said before the game that he would not play.

"Losing Ricky was obviously the toughest thing for us. We were able to grind out games and get wins, but then Pek went down, J.J. continued to be hurt and Michael just added firepower," Love said. "All four of those guys added something special to this team. When we were rolling we had everyone together."

Aldridge, who had eight rebounds, was back with the Blazers after missing Friday night's loss to the Clippers with a sore left elbow.

"I just blocked it out," he said. "When I'm out there I'm going to play."

The game was tied at 27 at the end of the first quarter, but when Love rested early in the second, Portland took a 37-31 lead on Jamal Crawford's pull-up jumper. Portland stretched the lead to 49-42 on another Crawford jumper and the Blazers led 57-50 at the half.

Batum's 3-pointer and free throw gave the Blazers a 79-68 lead with 4:13 left. Batum blocked Luke Ridnour on the other end to pave the way for Aldridge's fast-break dunk, giving Portland its biggest lead of the game to that point.

Ridnour made a 3 to narrow it to 86-82 for the Timberwolves late in the third quarter, but Luke Babbitt made a layup at the buzzer.

Crawford's long jumper put the Blazers up 105-89 midway through the final quarter.

Ridnour and Derrick Williams each finished with 21 points for the Timberwolves.

Hickson finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Raymond Felton had 10 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Blazers.

Portland was without center Joel Przybilla, who has a right knee sprain, an absence that paved the way for Hickson to start. It isn't clear if the injury will keep Przybilla out of Monday night's game against the Utah Jazz.

In the Timberwolves' previous visit to the Rose Garden on March 3, Love finished with 42 points, one shy of his career high, and Minnesota won 122-110.

Love grew up just south of Portland in Lake Oswego. He was half of a spectacular prep class in the state of Oregon with Kyle Singler of Medford. Love went on to play at UCLA while Singler played at Duke.

Love's performance in March was helping preserve the Timberwolves' playoff aspirations. He averaged a league-best 30.7 points, 13.9 rebounds and shot 48 percent from 3-point range.

But Love can't carry the Timberwolves alone.

"We've got to win almost every game now," he said. "So it's still there for us, but we need a tremendous amount of luck on our side as well."

NOTES: Before the game the Blazers honored longtime broadcaster and Portland native Steve "Snapper" Jones. "I'm just here feeling the love," said Jones, 70. ... Both teams were also coming off losses. The Timberwolves fell 100-79 at home to the Celtics on Friday, while Portland lost 98-97 to the Clippers in Los Angeles the same night. ... Batum made a layup at the final buzzer that he felt bad about, because he didn't want it to look like he was disrespecting the Timberwolves. "No really, sorry," he said.

Notebook: Trail Blazers 119, Timberwolves 106

Posted Monday April 2, 2012 1:05AM

By Kerry Eggers, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: LaMarcus Aldridge led six Portland players in double figures with 26 points as the Trail Blazers trimmed the Timberwolves 119-106 Sunday night at the Rose Garden.

Aldridge also grabbed nine rebounds for Portland (25-28), which passed Minnesota (25-29) to move into 11th place in the Western Division playoff race.

Kevin Love collected 26 points and nine boards for the Timberwolves, who lost for the ninth time in 13 games. They were without four of their top six scorers due to injuries -- Ricky Rubio (knee, out for the season), Nikola Pekovic (ankle), Michael Beasley (toe) and J.J. Barea (quadriceps).

QUOTABLE: "He's our All-Star, our go-to player. Nothing he does on the floor surprises me."
-- Portland coach Kaleb Canales on Aldridge.

THE STAT: Portland shot 52.3 percent from the field, its best percentage since firing at a 59.3 clip on Feb. 21 against San Antonio.

TURNING POINT: Portland led 75-68 late in the third quarter when Nicolas Batum converted a four-point play, then made a spectacular block that started a fast break and an Aldridge dunk the other way. Suddenly, it was 81-68, and the Wolves never got closer than six points the rest of the way.

HOT: J.J. Hickson, who had one point on 0-for-1 shooting in 15 first-half minutes, finished 6-for-10 with 15 points and nine rebounds in 35 minutes.

NOT: Raymond Felton made only 4 of 11 shots from the field but came close to a triple-double with 10 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

QUOTABLE II: "We had a very poor game defensively. We never stopped them the whole night."
-- Minnesota coach Rick Adelman

INSIDE THE ARENA: Long-time Trail Blazer TV analyst Steve Jones was honored in a pre-game ceremony.

GOOD MOVE: Aldridge took advantage of his quickness in the head-to-head matchup with Love, scoring often on fadeaway jump shots after contact.

BAD MOVE: Batum dunked in the second quarter, the ball going through the rim but hitting his head before it cleared through the net. The ball stayed in and went down, but referee Bill Kennedy disallowed the basket. NBA rules mandate the ball must go through the net without being touched by on offensive player.

QUOTABLE III: "When they got into that little fight, that motivated him much more. He did a good job tonight. it's been a long time -- since the All-Star break -- that we've seen L.A. this aggressive."
-- Portland's Batum on Aldridge, whose second-quarter scuffle with Love seemed to fire him up.

NOTABLE: Portland had gone 11 straight games without surpassing 100 points. It was the second-most points the Blazers have scored all season, behind only their 137-97 victory over San Antonio on Feb. 21. That was the game in which Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, already minus injured Manu Ginobili, sat healthy regulars Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.

UP NEXT: For the Blazers, Monday vs. Utah, Wednesday vs. New Jersey, Friday @ Dallas. For the Timberwolves, Monday @ Sacramento, Wednesday vs. Golden State, Saturday @ New Orleans.

• Timberwolves: Beasley, Rubio
• Trail Blazers: Williams, Williams

• Timberwolves: --
• Trail Blazers: --

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 7

• Arena: Rose Garden, Portland, OR
• Officials: #55 Bill Kennedy, #38 Michael Smith, #52 Scott Twardoski
• Attendance: 20359
• Duration: 2:09