The Minnesota Timberwolves are looking good without Jimmy Butler after they beat the 3rd seed Portland Trail Blazers, 112-96 on Friday night and got their third straight victory after trading Jimmy Butler. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins are said to be the main reason why Jimmy demanded a trade but now, Wiggins and Towns are enjoying the court without Jimmy and putting strong numbers since the trade happened. It looks like they are now happy without Jimmy on the team.
Game Recap
The Wolves immediately puts Robert Covington in their starting lineup at the 3 position. Wiggins plays the 2 now after butler was traded. Minnesota's offense goes through Taj Gibson from the inside giving him nice looks while he do what he does best in the painted area. Robert Covington remained the 3-and-D guy that he is in Philly giving Minnesota more force from the outside and at the defensive end of the floor. Portland on the other hand let Jusuf Nurkic work in the paint and score some baskets.
When Derrick Rose enters the floor, the Wolves becomes more entertaining to watch. I was also excited when he hits the floor and it looks like I'm watching the old D-Rose. I think he's totally back. Not as explosive and athletic as before but his handles and quickness are still there. He provided some buckets in the inside and some assists to give the Wolves an early lead in the first half.
Meyers Leonard are pretty good hitting 2 consecutive threes in the second quarter. He's lately become more comfortable shooting the three-pointer. Portland scored more in transition as the Wolves can't hold off Portland's speed in transition.
The addition of Dario Saric and Robert Covington gave Karl-Anthony Towns more space to operate in the paint and avoid double-teams. I think this is why Towns is better without Jimmy in their team. He can do whatever he wants and he can have the ball more often in his hands.
Andrew Wiggins ends the third quarter with a big block against CJ McCollum in transition.
Portland wakes up in the third period after trailing the whole first half. Lillard and McCollum gets some early baskets in the third and cuts the deficit to single digits but that wasn't enough. The Wolves continues to score and make some defensive stops including Towns' huge block against Jake Layman's dunk attempt. Covington also continues his hot three-point shooting in the third period that helps them kept the lead.
Minnesota continues to dominate in the final quarter and just keeps getting their shots fall through. Minnesota's outside shooting improves a lot after the Jimmy Butler trade. Derrick Rose also had a nice game scoring 17 points. He's superb in getting to the rim and dishing nice assists to his team mates. Portland has no answer for the Wolves' offensive dominance as the Minnesota Timberwolves took home the victory!
Stats
Andrew Wiggins - 23 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk
Karl-Anthony Towns - 14 pts, 9 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk
Derrick Rose - 17 pts, 7 reb, 6 ast
Robert Covington - 14 pts, 5 reb, 3 stl, 4/6 3pt FG
Damian Lillard - 16 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast
CJ McCollum - 18 pts, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl
Jusuf Nurkic - 13 pts, 11 reb, 1 blk
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