His balky back still looked to be bothering him.
It didn’t matter to Jimmy Butler.
The Portland Trail Blazers looked, at times, to be unstoppable.
Butler didn’t flinch.
Butler, playing with a sore lower back that had him listed as questionable Monday morning, scored 37 points. Nine of those came in the fourth quarter. Two of those came from the free throw line with 2.5 seconds left, giving the Timberwolves a come-from-behind, 108-107 victory at Target Center.
The two free throws came after the Blazers guard Damian Lillard missed at the other end, prompting a Wolves time out.
Butler got the in-bounds pass, drove the lane, was fouled and – with MVP chants coming from the fans – hit both of them, capping a remarkable comeback from 10 down in the fourth quarter.
As a result the Wolves (18-13) ended their five-game homestand with a 3-2 record.
Butler had six rebounds and four assists. Jamal Crawford came off the bench to score 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting. He had 16 of those in the fourth quarter, when he and Butler combined to score 27 of the Wolves’ 32 points.
C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic each had 20 for the Blazers, who had a three-game winning streak ended.
Down 10 mid-way through the fourth, Crawford hit a three pointer. Out of a time out the Wolves got Crawford’s jumper out off a Blazers turnover. Then Evan Turner was given a technical for arguing an offensive foul called on him and Butler hit the free throw. Moments later Crawford’s steal became Butlers fast-break jam with 5:31 left in the game.
The 8-0 run had the Wolves within two.
Back and forth: The teams traded baskets until Crawford’s three-point play with 2:49 left pulled the Wolves within 105-104.
It stayed that way until 1:00, when Butler was fouled and made both free throws. McCollum hit with 43.4 seconds left.
Butler had a chance, but missed with 31 seconds left. AT the other end Lillard missed and Gibson got the rebound with 8.6 seconds left. Out of a time out Butler was fouled and hit both.
Butler looked a little stiff at the start of the game. But it didn’t stop him from scoring 10 of the Wolves’ 24 points in a first quarter that ended with the score tied 24-24. Butler hit two three pointers and had two assists for the Wolves, who led by as many as five.
But, on the other end, Minnesota struggled with the pick-and-roll, with Nurkic scoring the Blazers’ first six points and the Blazers scoring 14 of their 24 points in the paint.
Aminu hit all three of his three-pointers in the quarter, including one from the corner at the end of the quarter that tied the game.
But, with Towns and Wiggins going a combined 1-for-9 in the quarter, Butler and Gibson (eight points) did the bulk of the scoring for the Wolves.
McCollum, who made one of four shots in the first quarter, heated up in the second. He had seven points in a 12-2 run that put the Blazers up by seven early in the second quarter. The Wolves roared back with seven straight points, with Towns scoring four and Butler putting the Wolves up a point with a three-point play.
From then on until halftime it was back-and-forth. Portland went up. Late in the half Butler scored to put the Wolves up 51-49, but the Blazers scored the final five points of the quarter, the last three on Lillard’s trey, giving the Blazers a 54-51 lead.
Towns hit a three-pointer to open the third quarter. It was the first of six ties in the third—there were also four lead changes -- as the two teams traded punches.
But the Wolves just couldn’t slow the Blazers down.
Butler went to the bench with the Wolves down two points late in the third quarter.
Portland proceeded to score seven straight points in 65 seconds.
Shabazz Napier scored. At the other end Andrew Wiggins missed two free throws with 1:44 left. Then Zach Collins hit a jump hook. The Blazers stole Gibson’s in-bounds pass and Lillard hit a three.
Just like that, Portland’s lead went from 76-74 to 83-74. And it was that nine-point margin the Blazers – who hit on 14 of 26 shots in the quarter, took into the fourth quarter.