This is a fantastic time on the sports calendar. The Final Four just concluded in the last couple days, the first week of the baseball season is underway, and the NBA is in its stretch run as teams jockey for playoff position. One of those teams is the Minnesota Timberwolves, who, with three games left on their schedule, have one of the Western Conference’s play-in spots, but are also just two games out of a true playoff spot and two games away from not making it at all. Things could look a little better for them were it not being the victim of the biggest NBA upset in 30 years.
The Timberwolves are not particularly good – their current record is just 39-40 – but they were facing a Portland Trailblazers squad that was not only worse, but that was missing four starters, including all-world Damian Lillard, and had lost 11 of its last 12 games. As such, bookmakers installed Minnesota as 19.5-point favorites. All systems go versus a skeleton crew, easy game, right?
Nope. Minnesota held a 12-point lead late in the third quarter, but Portland roared back with a 19-4 run to take the lead and eventually held on.
The Timberwolves have been enigmatic this year, as they have some very good players, but seem to consistently underperform.
“We have too many guys not playing really well right now,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said afterward. “This was kind of who we’ve been all season in these types of games and we do it again. You know, obviously, timing of it is extra painful, but we got to get guys playing better.”
All-Star Anthony Edwards was blunt about how his team plays against the worst teams in the league, saying, “We always fall short, it seems. It always haunts us. And tonight, once again, yep.”
According to ESPN Stats & Information, which has betting odds information going back to the 1990-1991 season, the biggest upset by point spread was when the Orlando Magic beat the Chicago Bulls, 111-108, as 21-point dogs. The Bulls had beaten the Magic in their three previous meetings that season. It didn’t bother Chicago that much, as they went on to win the NBA title.
The last upset of the Blazers’ magnitude came almost exactly 30 years ago, on April 6, 1993, when the Dallas Mavericks beat the Seattle Supersonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) 109-107. The Mavs won just 11 games all season and were also 19.5-point underdogs.
The Blazers jumped ahead of the Brooklyn Nets on the all-time upset list; Brooklyn beat the Milwaukee Bucks as 19-point underdogs on August 4, 2020, 119-116.
Image credit: Flickr.com / Michael Tipton