The first game after the announcement of the complete NBA All-Star Game rosters can be a pivotal statement game for star players across the league, whether to remind questioners just how great they are or to shout their anger at not being selected.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard has been on both sides of that coin in years past.
This year he made his third All-Star game, and celebrated by burying the Minnesota Timberwolves and new All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns in Portland, 123-114.
The familiar thread in Wednesday’s game was one that will only be further exploited in Thursday’s game at Golden State: the Timberwolves’ continued deficit from behind the 3-point arc.
After a close, hard-fought first half, the Trail Blazers pulled away behind a barrage of long distance jumpers — 7 of 9 in the third, 17 of 31 on the game — led by Lillard and Al-Farouq Aminu, and turned a tied game at the half into a 13-point lead after a 43-point third quarter.
The Timberwolves, still without their second All-Star Jimmy Butler, were reliant on a similar game plan to Monday’s win at Los Angeles: see how far Andrew Wiggins can carry the offensive scoring load. Wiggins was into double digits after the first quarter, and was helped greatly by the return of Jamal Crawford, who stabilized a struggling bench unit to keep things close in the second quarter.
Towns was impactful on the glass as always but did not seem able to impose his will on the game, and finished without a double-double for the first time in 2018.
Part of the Timberwolves’ struggles related to one of their most important statistics of the year: while they are often outscored from 3-point range, they compensate by dominating from the free-throw line – fifth in the NBA in attempts per game, third in makes per game, and eighth in percentage.
They were outpaced by Portland in both attempts and makes, with no 17 attempts for Jeff Teague to carry them like they did on Monday, and the 3-point deficit was the killer it should be.
Teague’s role will continue to draw the eyes of local watchers. After one of his best games of the season on Monday, Teague again had a frustrating showing on offense, with his 15 points coming on 4-of-12 shooting, more field goal attempts than his starting All-Star center as well as the team’s best 3-point shooter by percentage — Nemanja Bjelica, starting his third straight game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGE3ZfT6wsk
Teague’s scoring is part of his role, but his total dominance of the ball on several possessions, particularly late in the first half, did not feel like the optimal usage of the Timberwolves’ talented personnel, Butler or no Butler.
The look in the first half of the game was that the Timberwolves’ starters could win this game if they could ever string together any stops. They never did, failed to score enough to even keep the game close, and got blown out of the Moda Center by dunk after dunk from Pat Connaughton in the fourth quarter. Wiggins’ hot start concluded with only 24 points.
The team that had been playing its best defense of the year two weeks ago reverted back to some of its worst habits at an inopportune time.
Thursday night’s affair against the NBA’s best team, one of the deadliest teams in NBA history, on a back-to-back on the road, could be even uglier than this, even if Butler is able to return.
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