Aldridge does it all against Wolves

Published Jan. 17, 2011 11:41 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Anthony Maggio
FOXSportsNorth.com
January 17, 2011

PORTLAND -- When the Minnesota Timberwolves first visited Portland this season back on December 17, they had no answer for LaMarcus Aldridge.

A month later, they're still stumped.

Aldridge, who has totaled 63 points in the teams' two meetings this season, went 15-for-24 from the floor to set a new career high with 37 against Minnesota at the Rose Garden on Monday night in the Trail Blazers' 113-102 victory. It marked Aldridge's fifth 30-plus scoring game of the season and second such effort since his first outing against the Wolves.

His third quarter was especially clutch.

Aldridge scored a dozen of Portland's 38 points in the 12 minutes after halftime, which featured 54.2 percent shooting from the Trail Blazers. The league's worst three-point shooting team by percentage also followed up an 0-for-7 first half from beyond the arc with 4-for-7 showing from long distance in the third quarter, ultimately extending its lead to a game-high 17 points in the frame.

Minnesota's inability to keep pace at just 34.8 percent in the third quarter ultimately led to its 15 consecutive loss to Portland and third already this season. The Wolves managed to slice their deficit to eight points with 4:07 to play, but the Blazers came back with five straight points and didn't lead by less than nine points the rest of the way.

Wes Matthews again proved to be the perfect sidekick to Aldridge, following up his career-high 36-point effort against the Wolves in Minnesota 10 days ago with 23 points, including 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. Matthews scored 21 in the first meeting between the teams a month ago.

Darko Milicic did his best to keep the Wolves close, scoring 22 points to go with eight rebounds and four blocks, but with Michael Beasley struggling with foul trouble in his return from a two-game absence due to a sprained ankle, Milicic had little help outside of Kevin Love on the offensive end.

Love scored 22 points on 8-for-20 shooting and grabbed 17 rebounds to set a new career high with 37 double-doubles this season