PORTLAND, Ore. — The circumstances coming into Saturday's game against Portland didn't favor the Minnesota Timberwolves.
They were playing for the second time in two nights with travel in between while facing a Trail Blazers team that was at home and rested.
Despite that, the Wolves had a chance at their third consecutive victory deep into the fourth quarter, but they couldn't quite execute down the stretch of a 124-118 loss to Portland.
The Wolves had done a good job of limiting Portland's second-chance points in the second half, but allowed three at an inopportune time.
Trailing by two, the Wolves couldn't corral a miss from Anfernee Simons. The ball got back to Damian Lillard, who made a three from 31 feet to give Portland a five-point lead with 2 minutes, 36 seconds left. Lillard then iced the game with a step-back jumper with 46.8 seconds remaining.
Lillard finished with 36 and was 15-for-15 from the free-throw line while Simons had 31. Anthony Edwards had 26 for Minnesota but didn't score in the fourth after a dazzling third quarter. Rudy Gobert had 24 while D'Angelo Russell had 24.
The Wolves shot 55% during the first half but led just 66-65 headed in the locker room. Portland rode 17 second-chance points and 16 points at the free-throw line to keep pace with Minnesota through the first 24 minutes. Lillard didn't hit a three in the first half, but he was 9-for-9 from the free-throw line.
Simons was hitting from the outside and was 7-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-7 overall.
Naz Reid overcame an injury scare to score 11 in the first half. Reid landed on a cameraman on the base line during the second quarter and briefly went back to the locker room before returning. Edwards had 13 in the first half for the Wolves, who had just four turnovers and 38 points in the paint.
The Wolves built a 10-point lead behind a strong third from Edwards, who scored 13 in the quarter. Edwards was relentless in attacking the basket. But after the Wolves led by 10, they got careless on the offensive end and allowed Portland back into it. The Blazers took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter that they extended it to nine before the Wolves regrouped.
But the Wolves didn't have enough down the stretch to pull this one out.
