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Wolves face sneaky challenge against red-hot Blazers team on Saturday

Portland has won ten of its last 11 games to get back into the play-in mix.
Will Ragatz|
Feb 1, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers small forward Deni Avdija (8) is helped up by teammates after scoring a basket and drawing a foul during the first half against the Phoenix Suns at Moda Center.
Feb 1, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers small forward Deni Avdija (8) is helped up by teammates after scoring a basket and drawing a foul during the first half against the Phoenix Suns at Moda Center. | Soobum Im-Imagn Images

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Minnesota Timberwolves

Coming off an emotional, impressive win over the Rockets on the second leg of a back-to-back on Thursday, the Timberwolves will face a surprisingly tough test when they wrap up their five-game homestand on Saturday night. Their opponent is the Portland Trail Blazers, who were 13-28 a few weeks ago but have since won ten of their last 11 games to get back into the play-in tournament mix in the Western Conference.

The Blazers are still in 13th place in the West, but they're suddenly just 2.5 games back of the Kings and Warriors, who are tied for the tenth spot. They've been red hot lately, losing only to the West-leading Thunder in their last 11 contests. And they've largely been doing it with defense. Over the past ten games, the Blazers have the No. 1 defensive rating in the NBA, which is driving the No. 3 net rating. The Wolves aren't far behind at No. 5 in net rating over that span, so this has a chance to be quite the matchup.

Now, a bit of context is needed for the Blazers' recent success. Seven of the ten wins have come against Eastern Conference teams, and seven of the ten happened in Portland. The Bucks and Pacers are the only teams they've beaten in that stretch who are more than a game over .500. The wins have also come against the .500-ish Heat, Suns (twice), and Kings, as well as the sub-.500 Bulls, Magic (twice), and Hornets. Playing the Wolves in Minneapolis will be arguably the toughest game the Blazers have had since this run began.

With that said, the Wolves are 1-2 against Portland this year. They blew them out in the first meeting in Minneapolis in early November, but then lost twice on consecutive nights in Portland the following week. Minnesota will be hoping to salvage a split of the season series on Saturday.

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The Blazers are a young team that has been finding its groove under head coach Chauncey Billups. Anfernee Simons, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe make up a fun, explosive young backcourt. They've got some solid wings in veteran Jerami Grant, Deni Avdija, and defensive menace Toumani Camara. And in the frontcourt, DeAndre Ayton has been playing well lately, with rookie Donovan Clingan doing some good things off the bench.

This has looked like a different Portland squad lately, so the Wolves will need to show up and play well on Saturday to wrap up their homestand with a third consecutive win. It's a 7 p.m. CT start on Naz Reid bobblehead night at Target Center.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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