Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Portland Trail Blazers
Date: February 24th, 2026
Time: 9:00 PM CST
Location: Moda Center
Television Coverage: Peacock
Radio Coverage: KFAN FM, Wolves App, iHeart Radio<\/p>\n
The Timberwolves had a golden opportunity Sunday night. Denver lost. The Lakers lost. Houston stumbled. The Western Conference standings basically opened the door, rolled out a red carpet and said, \u201cHey Minnesota, would you like to be tied for the 3-seed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, the Wolves got absolutely shellacked by the Philadelphia 76ers on their own floor. 135 points worth of shellacked, to be exact.<\/p>\n
And yes, context matters. Rudy Gobert was suspended after the Marvin Bagley flagrant. Naz Reid was out with shoulder soreness. Julius Randle was apparently under the weather, though he gave it a go. When you remove Gobert and Naz from the equation, you\u2019re not just losing size. You\u2019re losing the defensive backbone and a key offensive release valve. That\u2019s real. But even with that caveat, Sunday was ugly.<\/p>\n
Because yes, Minnesota was undersized. Yes, they were missing their Defensive Player of the Year center. But the bulk of the damage didn\u2019t come from post dominance or paint bullying.<\/p>\n
It came from the three-point line. Philadelphia shot 57 percent from deep. Twenty-one made threes on 37 attempts. That\u2019s not \u201cGobert is suspended\u201d stuff. That\u2019s perimeter breakdown stuff. That\u2019s effort and communication stuff. That\u2019s point-of-attack defense stuff.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Minnesota went just 10-for-33 from beyond the arc. Do the math. That\u2019s a 33-point differential from three alone. In a 27-point loss. That\u2019s not bad luck. That\u2019s a defensive collapse.<\/p>\n
The Familiar Wolves Problem<\/p>\n
This has been the maddening paradox of the 2025-26 Wolves. Even when Gobert is available, the defense has been suspect at times. But when he\u2019s out, the floor drops out completely.<\/p>\n
Against Philly, the Wolves looked like a team that assumed the Sixers would roll over. Philadelphia was on the second night of a back-to-back. If anything, Minnesota should have had the fresher legs and the hungrier mindset. Instead, it looked like only one team bothered to show up.<\/p>\n
Tyrese Maxey and company got comfortable early. Minnesota\u2019s closeouts were late. Rotations were sluggish. Shooters were wide open. The Sixers weren\u2019t just making tough shots, they were getting clean looks in rhythm. When the Wolves fall into that trap, when they start trading baskets instead of defending, things spiral. They don\u2019t have the offensive consistency to win 135-130 track meets every night. That\u2019s not who they are, and that\u2019s not how they\u2019re built.<\/p>\n
This loss stung even more because of the standings math. Denver dropped to Golden State. The Lakers fell to Boston. Houston stumbled against New York on Saturday. If Minnesota handles its business, they\u2019re neck-and-neck with the Nuggets for the 3-seed.<\/p>\n
Instead? They\u2019re staring at the 6-seed again. Play-in territory hovering in the background like an unwelcome sequel nobody asked for.<\/p>\n
The Good News (Yes, There Is Some)<\/p>\n
The West is still jam-packed. The margin is razor thin. One good road trip flips everything. And here\u2019s what\u2019s ahead: Portland, then the Clippers in L.A., then a final showdown with Denver on March 1.<\/p>\n
If the Wolves string together three wins on this trip, they\u2019re right back in the mix and will have likely leapfrogged Denver. The three seed is sitting there. Waiting.<\/p>\n
But this team doesn\u2019t get credit for theoretical standings jumps. They get credit for showing up. So now we pivot to Portland\u2026<\/p>\n
1. Don\u2019t Walk In Like It\u2019s Wrapped Up<\/p>\n
Minnesota just beat Portland before the All-Star break. And that\u2019s the danger. Because if you rewind a bit further to opening night, it took fourth-quarter heroics from Anthony Edwards to avoid losing to this same Blazers team.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re young. They\u2019re scrappy. They don\u2019t know they\u2019re supposed to lose. If Minnesota strolls in assuming this is a get-right game, they\u2019ll find themselves in another fourth-quarter coin flip on the road. That\u2019s not the recipe.<\/p>\n
Show up. Focused. Determined. Play like a team that understands the stakes.<\/p>\n
2. Protect the Perimeter \u2014 For Real This Time<\/p>\n
Sunday was a clinic in what not to do defensively. Maxey and the Sixers got comfortable because the Wolves failed at the point of attack. No resistance. Lazy closeouts. Slow rotations. That can\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n
When Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards, and Jaylen Clark are locked in, they can be suffocating on the perimeter. We\u2019ve seen it. We saw it against OKC earlier this season. We\u2019ve seen them swarm and choke teams out. They have to bring that version. Keep Portland\u2019s guards from living in the paint. Contest shooters with purpose. Rotate like it matters.<\/p>\n
Gobert is back. Randle should hopefully be recovered from his illness. Naz Reid remains questionable, but even if he\u2019s limited, Minnesota has a size advantage. The Wolves looked lost without their interior presence against Philly. That shouldn\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n
Run the floor. Crash the glass. Establish physicality early. Feed Gobert on lobs. Let Randle bully his way into high-percentage looks. Clean up misses with putbacks. Portland should not win the rebounding battle. Period.<\/p>\n
4. Reestablish Defensive Identity<\/p>\n
This is bigger than Portland. Bigger than one night.<\/p>\n
If Minnesota wants to be taken seriously in April and May, giving up 120-130 points can\u2019t be the norm. Two years ago, this team routinely held opponents under 100. That edge, that pride, has flickered this season. When they get bored, when they assume their offense will carry them, they bleed points.<\/p>\n
On the road, you cannot let a young team build momentum. You can\u2019t turn it into a fourth-quarter scramble. Assert control. Make Portland earn every bucket.<\/p>\n
After the Dallas win, Edwards said he wanted to go 25-0 down the stretch. That every game matters now.<\/p>\n
Sunday didn\u2019t back it up.<\/p>\n
There are 24 games left. The 3-seed is within reach. It doesn\u2019t take a miracle run, just professionalism and consistency. The Wolves don\u2019t need to be perfect. They just need to stop stepping on rakes.<\/p>\n
Portland is overmatched on paper. But so was Memphis. So was New Orleans. We\u2019ve seen how that story goes when Minnesota assumes it\u2019s entitled to the result.<\/p>\n
This road trip could define the season. Three wins and they\u2019re talking about home-court advantage and avoiding OKC\u2019s side of the bracket. Another slip-up and they\u2019re flirting with the play-in.<\/p>\n
Anthony Edwards can say all the right things, but talk is cheap and it\u2019s time to get real. The only thing standing in this team\u2019s way is effort, focus, and whether they decide this matters. We\u2019ll find out Tuesday night in Portland whether 24-0 is a mission statement\u2026 or just another sound bite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Portland Trail BlazersDate: February 24th, 2026Time: 9:00 PM CSTLocation: Moda CenterTelevision Coverage: PeacockRadio Coverage: KFAN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,6,687,471,3967,64153,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-621550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-portland","12":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","13":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","14":"tag-timberwolves-game-discussion","15":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116124824624941647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}