Wolves Tripped Up By Blazers

Randy Wittman Following the 88-83 Loss To Portland

Randy Foye

Ryan Gomes

Head coach Randy Wittman summed up the 88-83 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers with a pop culture reference that will surely hit home with the Wolves fans.

"It's like Groundhog Day," Wittman said.

Close losses have become a difficult pill to swallow for the Wolves. Minnesota suffered a four-point defeat just one week ago to the same Portland team.

"It's not about who had a good game right now, it's about getting everybody willing to do the right things all the time. You know it's hard enough in this league; it's hard enough in this conference. If you are just going to go through and hope to outscore somebody, then you are going to have the record we have," Wittman said.

Al Jefferson continues to be the consistent star on the team by finishing with 26 points and six rebounds. Even with double team pressure from Portland all night, Jefferson was effective against the lengthy Blazers post players. With 1:15 left in the game, Jefferson hit a jumper over rookie Greg Oden to give the Wolves an 83-82 lead. Portland would then counter with Brandon Roy getting a quick basket and a dunk off of a turnover to lift the Blazers to an 86-83 advantage. Roy finished with 24 points and six assists with Portland improving to 6-4 and a tie for first place in the Northwest division.

Minnesota looked sharp early in the game with a 10-point halftime lead. However, the squad would suffer its seventh loss of the year behind a fourth quarter that only netted 12 points.

Randy Foye did not start for the Wolves but did play over 33 minutes. Foye scored six points in the second quarter and was the point guard in the final minutes of the contest.

"Even though right now we are not succeeding in the fourth quarter, it's going to click for us, it will turn around," Foye said. "You got to keep pushing and practicing and believing in the system."

Mike Miller scored 10 points and hit 1-of-2 three-point field goals. As a team, the Wolves could not find the outside stroke with a final percentage of 28 percent from deep range. In contrast, Portland used the inside presence of Oden to lure Minnesota defenders inside the paint and then hit three point shots at a 48 percent clip for the game.

For the second time this season, the Wolves scored more points in the paint than the Blazers. LaMarcus Aldridge did not get a chance to post any significant numbers due to foul trouble throughout the game.

Minnesota will hit the road for a contest against Denver tomorrow night at 7 PM.