The Portland Trail Blazers play host to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Moda Center on Tuesday.

The Timberwolves (23-23) come into this matchup winning three of their last four games, beating the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in their most recent outing. Grabbing a win over such a talented team shows just how much this young group has grown, with Minnesota sitting at .500 46 games into the season. That's the deepest they've been into a season with a .500 record or higher in about a decade, and it's a testament to this young trio. Karl-Anthony Towns, D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards are among the most dangerous threesomes in the NBA, and all three of those guys are extremely young. It has T'Wolves fans excited for the first time in a while.

The Trail Blazers (20-26) looked like one of the worst teams in the NBA this time two weeks ago, but something has changed since then. In fact, Portland comes into this matchup with a 6-2 record over their last eight games. What makes that run even more bizarre is that it directly correlates with Damian Lillard's surgery. The All-Star point guard is out for most of the season, and his return isn't imminent unless this team hangs around and competes. They look to be doing that now, and the return of C.J. McCollum is obviously a major reason why. It's no flukey stretch either, posting a 4-1 record in this current five-game road trip, with most of those coming on the East Coast. Returning home could boost them even more, and it's clear that it's way too early to count them out.

These teams played back on December 12, with Minnesota prevailing, 116-111. With that said, Portland won eight of their previous 11 meetings in this series, dating back to 2018.