Love outduels Aldridge to lead Wolves past Blazers

Kevin Love worked all summer to put an injury-plagued season behind him and reclaim his spot as the best power forward in the NBA.

LaMarcus Aldridge of the Portland Trail Blazers is one of the players standing in his way.

In their first head-to-head matchup of the season, Love pounced on a road-weary Aldridge and grabbed Round 1.

Love had 29 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists to outshine Aldridge in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 120-109 victory over Portland on Wednesday night.

"Awesome," Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio said. "There's no words to describe. He's doing a great job leading this team in scoring, rebounding, even assisting. He's taking my job."

Nikola Pekovic had 30 points and nine rebounds and Kevin Martin scored 22 for the Timberwolves, who led by 32 in the second quarter and held off a charge in the second half from the Blazers.

Damian Lillard had 36 points, six assists and six rebounds and Aldridge had 15 points and 14 boards for the weary Trail Blazers, who lost for the first time in six games. It was just their fifth loss of the season in 27 games and came at the end of a four-game road trip.

The Timberwolves outscored Portland 72-34 in the paint and shot 49.5 percent from the field.

Aldridge, one of the early leaders in the MVP race thanks to Portland's remarkable start, made just seven of 22 shots.

"Just one of those nights," Aldridge said. "I couldn't throw a rock in a lake if I tried to, even if I was standing in the water."

The Blazers have been the most surprising team of this young season, and they stormed into Target Center fresh off two straight heart-pounding victories on last-second shots by Lillard that gave them the best record in the NBA. But playing their fourth road game in five nights, their legs were heavy, their shots where shaky and the Wolves pounced.

Love owned the first 24 minutes. He had a double-double before the game was 13 minutes old and went into halftime with 17 points, 11 boards and eight assists.

The Wolves rode a staggering 42-12 run through the second quarter to take a 62-30 lead five minutes before the break.

- Associated Press

(China Daily 12/20/2013 page23)