Rudy Gobert dominates the paint in Minnesota Timberwolves victory over Portland Trail Blazers

In this matchup, Rudy Gobert put on a dominant performance to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 119-114 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at Target Center.

A lot has been going on in the life for leader Anthony Edwards, as a few games ago against the Sacramento Kings Ant-Man left at halftime due to the birth of his child. Fast-forward to this contest and the 2-time All-Star showed up late for tip-off, therefore he came off the bench and checked in after the first dead ball.

Despite his off-court distractions, the team has been able to pick up a win tonight led by 3-time DPOY Rudy Gobert. The big man finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks on 90% shooting. Mike Conley ended with 19 points and 7 assists. It was a struggle for Minnesota’s 2 All-Stars, as Karl-Anthony Towns scored 14 points on 5/12 shooting and Edwards recorded just 13 points on 40% shooting off the bench.

For the Blazers, Anfernee Simons had a huge game, finishing with 34 points and 14 assists with 5 made triples. Duop Reath scored 26 points on 10/14 shooting while Dalano Banton had 18 points and 7 rebounds.

This win improves the Wolves to 43-19 on the season, keeping them as the 2nd seed in the West at this moment. It will be a fight till the last game of the regular season to see who earns the top spot in the conference, so winning tonight against a below .500 team is crucial for Minnesota. They snapped a 2-game losing streak with this victory and they’ll look to build off this win on Thursday against the Indiana Pacers.

Meanwhile, this loss drops the Blazers to 17-43, keeping them at 14 in the West. Portland is looking to mainly develop their young players and then add another top prospect in this upcoming draft, so losing games this late in the season will help them improve their lottery odds. They are 2-8 over their last 10 games and will face off against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.