MINNEAPOLIS — Two of the Timberwolves three best players, the injured Anthony Edwards and D'Angelo Russell, sat toward the end of the bench Monday night and never bothered to take off their coats.
They probably knew their team wasn't going to have to sweat this one out. That was the case pretty much from the start as the Wolves downed a severely shorthanded Portland team 124-81.
The Trail Blazers, who were without many players including Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic, were already shorthanded when the teams met Saturday. Then they came into Monday without Anfernee Simons, who scored 38 on Saturday. The Wolves did what they should against a roster better suited for March Madness.
The Wolves didn't even play particularly well. They shot just 8-for-22 as they built a 31-15 lead after the first quarter. That's because Portland shot 5-for-25. They didn't have to focus particularly well, and given their busy schedule of late they could use a night where they could just turn their brains off.
Karl-Anthony Towns made quick work of Portland with 27 points and 13 rebounds while Malik Beasley had 19 as the Wolves won their fifth straight game. The only concern was Jaylen Nowell, who left the game in the second quarter and didn't return because of what the Wolves called a nasal contusion after Nowell collided with Portland guard Josh Hart.
Monday's scene at Target Center wasn't notable for what happened on the court most of the night. Instead it represented a big-picture contrast to recent seasons. How often have the Wolves been in Portland's shoes playing out the string on a depressing season in an empty arena on a Monday night?
Instead, Target Center was mostly full of the seats the team made available, and the Wolves could sleepwalk through a game for an easy win, even without two of their top players. The crowd, even in a blowout, was still loud and reacting throughout the night — and then they started doing "The Wave" with Towns and Patrick Beverley joining in.
The vibes, at last, are different.
The fourth quarter just turned into a celebration. The crowd and bench exploded when Jake Layman scored. Same when Leandro Bolmaro scored. Target Center was rarely happier than it was Monday.
The game did represent a good opportunity for Towns to pad his statistics in his attempt to reach the All-NBA team, which would up the value of his next contract. Part of the reason the Wolves dominated the way they did was because Portland had no one to guard Towns. He had 12 in the first quarter and 19 halftime. He shot 13 free throws in the first half.
Towns was named the Western Conference's player of the week on Monday and began his campaign for another award Monday.
The Wolves were just 18-for-48 at halftime but still led 61-34, as Portland limped into the locker room at just 10-for-41.
Despite their winning streak, the Wolves haven't made up much ground in their quest to reach the No. 6 seed in the West and avoid the play-in tournament. That's because the two teams just in front of them, Dallas and Denver, also keep winning. Both played Monday night.
Before playing Portland, coach Chris Finch was asked if it was disheartening to see those teams keep winning, in light of an overtime win by the Nuggets on Sunday night.
"Not disheartening at all," Finch said. "I can't control a thing they do. That's why I don't watch those games. I enjoyed a good dinner [Sunday] night at Spoon and Stable."
Dinner also went down easy after Monday.
