The long wait is over! The Portland Trail Blazers begin one of the more anticipated seasons in recent memory with a tilt against the Northwest Division foe Minnesota Timberwolves.
After a second straight
Western Conference Finals appearance, the Timberwolves start the 2025-26 season hungry to improve on their recent success. Anything less than the NBA Finals would be seen as a failure. Minnesota made few roster changes in the offseason, instead putting their energy into resigning Naz Reid and Julius Randle. The Timberwolves will look to get out of the gate fast and avoid the pressure they put on themselves last season, when as late February they were hovering just above .500 with their postseason plans in disarray. A fantastic stretch run however set the table for a successful playoff run, even though they couldn’t get over the Conference Finals hump.
In Portland, meanwhile, the vibes are high. While Damian Lillard won’t play for many months, his return to the club brought a smile to the most depressed Blazers fans. Drafting the charismatic and intriguing Yang Hansen is cause for an optimistic future, and signing Toumani Camara and Shaedon Sharpe to manageable extensions builds confidence in the present while reinforcing the foundation for the next few seasons. Bringing in Jrue Holiday might not be the move that many fans were looking for, but it’s not hard to see how Holiday can make a significant difference to this team, especially with the injury to Scoot Henderson. The Blazers might not be ready to seriously contend for a championship this season, but for the first time in years it’s possible to imagine a plausible future where such a thing isn’t impossible.
What You Need to Know
Portland Trail Blazers (0-0) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (0-0) – Wed. Oct. 21 – 7:00pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
Trail Blazers injuries: Robert Williams III, Scoot Henderson, Damian Lillard (out)
Timberwolves injuries: Anthony Edwards (questionable)
SB Nation Affiliate: Canis Hoopus
What to Watch For
Anthony Edwards. The first thing to watch for is whether he suits up. It’s reported that he’s dealing with back spasms. It seems as of this writing Tuesday evening that he’s more likely to play than not, but stay tuned Wednesday for further developments. Assuming he does play, we’ll see what kind of impact he has on the game. He’s making noise this season about becoming “unstoppable” (see below), and the game against the Blazers will be his first chance to demonstrate his enhanced mindset. From the Blazers perspective, they can live with Edwards scoring in the mid-20s. What they can’t live with is him dominating the game.
Energy. The young Blazers fared reasonably well against the Timberwolves last season, splitting their four games 2-2. When the Blazers won, they brought the hustle and caught the Timberwolves a bit flat-footed. Fresh off a second consecutive Western Conference Finals appearance, Minnesota will feel that they should win this game. Perhaps that could bring a bit of complacency, and the best way to punish complacency is run them to death. For the most part, the Blazers have the legs to do it. Let’s see if they execute it.
Defense, defense, defense. The Blazers are built to defend. They start out the season with a golden opportunity to present their defensive bonafides against a dangerous Timberwolves attack. Setting the tone for the early part of the season with a tight defensive performance against a contender could go a long way to setting the Blazers up for success. Keeping the Timberwolves shooting percentage under 50%, getting seven or more blocks, and eight or more steals would suit the Blazers nicely.
What Others Are Saying
It may be the first game of the season, but the talk of Minnesota is Pablo Torre’s reporting about the previous owner’s attempt to stop the sale of the club.
Derek Hanson of Canis Hoopus previews the Timberwolves season.
Two straight Western Conference Finals gets you a parade of compliments. The third year is when you either break the ceiling or get labeled “that fun team from the mid-2020s.” The Wolves didn’t crawl out of two decades of purgatory to become a historical footnote. It’s time to finish the trilogy.
Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic has a nice piece on Anthony Edwards (subscription required).
The confidence Ant built in football could only take him so far. It derived from God-given physical prowess. The confidence he has in basketball, to him, feels stronger because he has had to work for it. He had to earn it.
Now it’s time to see how far that belief can take him and the Timberwolves, to see how unstoppable he can become. Now that voice needs to do more than whisper. Now it needs to howl.
