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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - LaMarcus Aldridge scored 16 of his 26 points in the second half and Wesley Matthews added 21 to help the Portland Trail Blazers hold off the injury-depleted Minnesota Timberwolves 117-110 Saturday night.
Aldridge had six points during Portland's game-deciding 13-1 run in the fourth quarter.
Corey Brewer led Minnesota with 26 points and Ricky Rubio scored a career-high 25 for the Wolves, who were without All-Star Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin.
Despite trailing for much of the game, the short-handed Wolves showed plenty of grit, getting 19 points from Chase Budinger, 14 from Dante Cunningham and a season-high 12 from rookie Shabazz Muhammad.
Minnesota led 87-85 with 9:48 to play before Portland went on its final run to put the game away. Minnesota pulled within 101-96 with 3:29 to play before Matthews scored five straight and Robin Lopez hit a layup to put the game out of reach.
Just minutes before tipoff, the Wolves announced Love would miss the game with a bruised left quadriceps suffered in Friday night's loss in New Orleans. Shortly before that, Martin was ruled out indefinitely with a broken left thumb, also suffered against the Pelicans. Combined with Pekovic, the trio accounts for an average of 60 points and 25 rebounds per game.
NOTES: During halftime, Love told The AP he hopes to play on Monday night against Houston. . The Blazers played a second-straight game without backup point guard Mo Williams, who left the team Friday for family reasons. Coach Terry Stotts did not have an update on when Williams might return. . Wolves coach Rick Adelman is assuming Pekovic will not return until after the All-Star break. "I haven't heard any more than you've heard at this point," Adelman said before the game. "I know he has not done any strenuous activity on the court, so that's going to have to come first before he can actually play." . Love bought a full-page advertisement in Sunday's Minneapolis Star Tribune thanking fans for voting him an All-Star starter. "Just my way of paying tribute to the fans," Love said at halftime.
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