Blazers 111, Wolves 81: A Depressing Affair

The Wolves seem to have transitioned from a disaster that is hard to look away from to simply a boringly bad team. If you enjoy Andrew Wiggins coming off high pick-and-rolls or dribble-handoffs to attack the rim or pull up for mid-range jumpers, this is the game for you. How about post-ups for Karl-Anthony Towns while most of the other teams stand around? If that sounds like fun, this was a great game.

The Wolves were always going to have trouble here. Jimmy Butler decided this was a game he was not going to play, Jeff Teague is still injured, and Derrick Rose was not able to play tonight. As a result, Jared Terrell and C.J. Williams were put into the rotation to fill out the backcourt and try to somehow contain Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum when they were matched up with the superstar duo.

At halftime, the Wolves certainly looked anemic and sluggish and that continued throughout the second half. This was just a route, plan and simple. No one looked like they were having fun or played well at all.

The Wolves shot an incredibly bad 30 percent from the field, including just 25 percent from beyond the arc on 29 attempts. The Wolves also got destroyed on the boards, letting Portland grab 17 offensive rebounds.

Honestly, the less said about this game the better. However, is this game is a harbinger of things to come, the Wolves are only going to get worse as the year goes on. If this sort of game had happened at the Target Center, the boos would have started in the second quarter followed by an empty arena in the fourth.

It is hard to tell if there is going to come a moment when this team quits on Tom Thibodeau, but this certainly would provide some evidence for it.

That is what I hope at least. The other answer, that the Wolves are simply this bad, would be monumentally depressing. As if Towns and Wiggins are simply not good enough to carry an average roster to at least relevant basketball, we are in for a long season.

Any good recipes? This game certainly deserves one.

Simple cocktail that I have been making lately:

• 2 parts whiskey
• 1 part St-Germain
• Dash of Bitters
• Top of with a bit of seltzer

Drink quickly to forget about this game ever happening.