With 10 minutes left in the third quarter, Deni Avdija barreled down the lane, buried his shoulder into Jaden McDaniels’ chest, discarded the All-Defensive wing, and converted an and one to bump the Portland
Trail Blazers’ feisty single-digit lead to six.
A small play among many over the course of three and a half quarters, it was one of many that hinted at a crash course game one for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
For 4o minutes, Portland was the more physical team, more active defensively, and much cleaner from a turnover perspective (the Timberwolves would finish with 19 of them).
But the funny thing is that games are 48 minutes, and in the last eight minutes, down single digits, the Wolves showed maturity and closed out a team they were favored to beat; notably with some help from employee #5.
Anthony Edwards’ 41 points marked the most in franchise history in an opening night game. Battling back spasms and tabbed as a gametime decision heading into Wednesday night, Edwards was fantastic throughout the game and scored from all over the floor.
While the Wolves ended up pulling it out in the end, their four point margin of victory was their largest lead of the game. Portland led for what seemed to be about 95 percent of it, holding a pesky single-digit lead for a lot of the contest.
Catching the Wolves in bad position, they committed five fouls in the first eight minutes, and quick ball movement got Jaden McDaniels (two first quarter fouls) and Rudy Gobert (who ended up fouling out) in precarious positions. Clearly knocking off some early season rust, the starters specifically didn’t seem to be too ready for the physicality.
Again, 48 minutes. Good teams close out young ones in winning time; the Wolves have seen it plenty of times over the years being on the other side of it.
But sometimes, your best players don’t let you lose.
