On Wednesday, the (19-17 SU, 22-14 ATS) Portland Trail Blazers will pay a visit to the (17-21 SU, 15-23 ATS) Minnesota Timberwolves for a Western Conference showdown at Target Center. The Blazers, 10-11 on the road, defeated Detroit 135-106 on Monday. The T-Wolves, 10-9 at home, defeated Denver 124-111 on Monday. Portland beat Minnesota in back-to-back games in December.
The Blazers will play without Justise Winslow and Nassir Little, who are out with injuries. Jusuf Nurkic is questionable with an illness. He played just 14 minutes versus the Pistons. The Timberwolves are missing Karl-Anthony Towns and Taurean Prince, who are both injured. Naz Reid is questionable Wednesday after sitting out the last game with a back injury, and D'Angelo Russell is probable to play versus Portland after missing the Denver game with an illness.
Tip-off from Minneapolis, MN, is at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Portland secured a much-needed win over Detroit earlier this week, as forward Jerami Grant scored 36 points to lead the way against his former team. The 29-point win was a boon for a Blazers squad that had lost four of its past five. Shooting guard Anfernee Simons scored 30, and point guard Gary Payton II made his season debut, contributing seven points and four assists in 13 minutes of action. It was also his first game with his new team after winning the NBA championship last season with Golden State.
“Now that I’m here, we had a hell of a game,” Payton remarked. “We were just flying everywhere. The energy is contagious, it just gets everybody going.”
Protected home-court #RipCity pic.twitter.com/lhu4AonFZY
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) January 3, 2023
The Trail Blazers score 112.9 points on 47.9 percent shooting (tenth-highest), including 38.4 percent from three-point range (third-highest). Portland's offensive rating, adjusted for schedule, is ranked ninth, and its effective field goal percentage (55.5%) is seventh-highest, per Dunks and Threes. Damian Lillard leads the team in scoring, averaging 27.4 points on 44.1 percent shooting from the field, including 37.6 percent from deep.
Portland surrenders 112.0 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting, with a 35.9 shooting percentage from three. Its adjusted defensive rating is 16th, and its assist-per-turnover ratio (1.58) is sixth-worst.
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