MINNEAPOLIS -- The Portland Trail Blazers got standout performances from their newest starters and a triple-double off the bench from Evan Turner to come away with a 132-122 victory versus the Minnesota Timberwolves in front of a crowd of 11,209 Monday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
“I really thought this game exemplified the way we need to play," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "Rodney (Hood) and Enes (Kanter) had really good games, they were our leading scorers and they didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Evan played a great role as a facilitator, doing a little bit of everything with his triple-double.... I thought we had a lot of good contributions and I liked our resiliency after giving up the lead and going down sixth in the fourth quarter.”
The Trail Blazers are now 49-28 overall, 20-19 on the road and finish a four-game road trip with a 3-1 record. The win also gives Portland the season series 3-1 versus Minnesota and pulls the Trail Blazers into a tie with the Rockets for third in the Western Conference standings.
"It's a tough team to beat on their home floor, nothing to lose," said Damian Lillard. "It's huge going forward, especially because we know we need at least three, four games to lock in homecourt and we got one of them (Monday night). Now we've got to go home and try to get the next one."
With CJ McCollum sidelined until further notice and Jusuf Nurkic out for the season, Trail Blazers head coach utilized a new starting lineup in their 76th game of the season. While Kanter has started all four games since Nurkic was lost for the season, Stotts looked to Rodney Hood, rather than Jake Layman, who had started the previous seven games in place of McCollum, Monday night in Minneapolis. Hood responded by making all five of his attempts, including two three-pointers for 12 points in the first quarter.
"Last two games have been hard to start off in a good rhythm," said Hood. "And I think tonight, I started off with some bounce to my step. Changed my pregame routine a little bit, felt a little bit better. Once CJ comes back it's going to be a different adjustment, but right now, I think it was good just for me mentally to get out there first."
With Kanter also putting up 12 points, not to mention grabbing four offensive rebounds, the Blazers took a comfortable 38-23 lead into the second quarter.
That lead increased to 19 in the second quarter thanks in large part to Turner (five assists) Seth Curry (nine points), Jake Layman (six points) and Meyers Leonard (six points) playing even with their reserve counterparts.
But the game started to turn the Timberwolves' way late in the second quarter. And the momentum was squarely in the home team's advantage in the third, with Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng and Tyus Jones combining for 27 points in the quarter. Behind that trio, the Timberwolves outscored the Trail Blazers by 14 in the third to take a 100-97 lead into the fourth.
But after taking what would be their largest lead of the night at 105-99 early in the fourth, Portland went on a 15-4 run, powered by Turner, Layman and Curry, to take a 114-109 lead with 7:13 to play. A few minutes later, Curry and Zach Collins would go on their own 10-2 run, which included two Curry threes, to push the lead back to double digits with just under four and a half minutes to play.
Without Robert Covington (right knee), Luol Deng (right Achilles), Derrick Rose (right elbow), Jeff Teague (left foot) and Taj Gibson (left calf), the Timberwolves didn't have enough time, talent or energy to overcome another double-digit deficit.
With Curry scoring 10 points in the fourth and Turner tallying eight points, eight rebounds and three assists on the way to his fourth career triple-double, Portland needed just six points from their starters in the final 12 minutes, belying the group effort in the last game of a four-game, week-long trip.
"At shootaround, I mentioned how they're a really talented team, they play hard, really nothing to lose," said Lillard. "They're capable of putting an effort together like they did against Golden State and beating you, especially on their home floor. We was in that situation tonight, went into the fourth down and it was collective. Seth had a nice run, ET made some good plays, scored a few buckets, Zach had a nice stretch. Everybody came in -- Meyers came in, Rodney and Enes didn't even play in the fourth and they were the leading scorers. That's what I mean by a collective effort where everybody is going to have to give a little bit. We can win games that way."
Portland was led in scoring by Hood, who was inserted into the starting lineup Monday night and responded by scoring 12 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter. Hood also added four rebounds, two steals and an assist in just under 29 minutes.
Kanter went 7-of-10 from the field for 20 points to go with 11 rebounds for the double-double in 26 minutes. The 6-10 center also had a career-high four blocks and an assist in 24 minutes.
But it was Turner whose yeoman effort allowed the Trail Blazers to come away with their 49th victory of the season. Turner finished with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in just under 25 minutes for the fourth triple-double of his career. Turner is the first Trail Blazer since Rod Strickland to come off the bench to record a triple-double.
"I just do what I’m asked. Whatever my minutes are, just go with the flow," said Turner, whose last triple-double was exactly four years ago to the day. "Play defense. I’ve been distributing. That’s pretty much it. I got the most minutes I’ve got in a while and I made shots so I’m just going with the flow. I just ride the wave and the most important thing is winning and closing the game.”
Curry shot 7-of-14 from the field and 5-of-9 from three to finish with 19 points in just under 22 minutes. The 6-2 guard has scored in double figures in every game since McCollum went down with a left knee muscle strain.
Lillard posted a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds and Layman added 11 off the bench on 50 percent shooting from the field.
Six Timberwolves finished in double figures led by Wiggins' 21 points in 34 minutes. Karl-Anthony Towns added a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds as did Tyus Jones, who posted 14 points and 11 assists in 33 minutes. Dieng finished with 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting in 16 minutes.
Next up, the Trail Blazers return home to face the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday night at the Moda Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.