Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns power Wolves past Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers came to Minneapolis Friday for a game against the Western Conference-leading Timberwolves a day after an embarrassing 62-point loss at the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Early on at Target Center, it looked like Minnesota might beat them by 70, or even 80. While the Timberwolves didn’t make it a historic margin of victory, they still handily beat the Blazers 116-93 Friday night.
Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns were the engine that powered the Wolves (27-11) all game. Gobert was a force on the glass on both ends and was in control in the paint. And his teammates kept finding him.
Whether it was Mike Conley hitting him in stride for a layup or Anthony Edwards finding him for an acrobatic alley oop, Gobert kept finding ways to be involved early, and his teammates reciprocated. He scored 11 points in the opening quarter as Minnesota took a 36-15 advantage into the second frame.
"I thought we did a really good job of finding (Gobert) early," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. "(Towns') drives, quick and clean, was able to use his size and strength to his advantage. Great recognition by our guys to keep going to it when it was working."
Towns scored 10 in the opening frame himself, hitting an early 3-pointer as the Wolves jumped out to a quick 14-1 lead. In the second quarter, Portland (10-28) was able to cut its deficit to as few as nine, but the Wolves — behind Towns and Gobert, plus a spark by Naz Reid off the bench — pushed their lead back to 21 by halftime.
Towns and Gobert scored 16 points apiece in the first 24 minutes.
The big-ball approach continued to work flawlessly into the second half as Gobert remained aggressive in the paint and on the glass. He scored eight points in the third quarter and kept finding his way to the free-throw line — attempting six shots from the charity stripe in the frame.
Gobert finished his night with 24 points and 17 rebounds — not bad on any night, but particularly impressive for a contest in which he was a game-time decision after being listed as questionable ahead of the game with left hip soreness.
Towns, meanwhile, had 23 points and eight rebounds on the night.
With 3-pointers from Towns and Reid pushing the Wolves’ lead to 34 early in the fourth quarter, Gobert didn’t even play in the final 12 minutes. Minnesota started subbing in the end of its bench with over nine minutes remaining in the contest.
"It's always good to get (the young guys) some minutes, see what they can do. Reward them for their hard work even though they're not getting playing time," Finch said.
That included Leonard Miller, who had only played in four games for Minnesota entering Friday but has shown a lot of flashes with the Iowa Wolves, averaging 21.5 points per game in four games he's played there. He picked up two quick fouls and had four points, two rebounds, a steal and a block in eight minutes.
In a fitting end to the night, Josh Minott swatted Toumani Camara's layup attempt into the court with force with seven seconds remaining to close the game.
WHY NOT MINOTT. 🫣 pic.twitter.com/sHyCMxlCXc
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) January 13, 2024
Final key stats
- Rudy Gobert: 24 points, 17 rebounds, 2 blocks
- Karl-Anthony Towns: 23 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist
- Naz Reid: 14 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist
- Mike Conley: 9 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds