Timberwolves pay tribute to Flip Saunders before home opener

Friends, players, coaches and colleagues of Phil “Flip” Saunders shared touching memories of the late Timberwolves coach during a video tribute before the team’s home opener Monday, highlighting his creativity, kindness and humility.

A capacity crowd at Target Center stood in remembrance as a pair of tribute videos played on the video board.

Garnett, whom Saunders brought back to Minnesota from the Brooklyn Nets last season, spoke before Monday’s game for first time since Saunders’ death on October 25. It wasn’t neglect that kept the future Hall of Famer from honoring his friend on camera, though; Garnett was simply too emotional to be filmed.

Before he took over as head coach in his second stint with the Timberwolves, Saunders the executive hosted a few fans in his suite for a game, including attorney Steven Terry, a fixture courtside at Target Center. “That really hit me because usually at this level, people try to keep those types of feelings to themselves”, he said. There was a moment of silence, followed by cheers.

Blazers All-Star point guard Damian Lillard scored 29 of his 34 points through the first three quarters, by which time the Blazers clung to an 83-80 lead.

Lillard’s pull-up 3 in the transition gave them a 10-point lead with 5:39 to play, but the Wolves ripped off a 12-4 run to pull within two with 90 seconds left.

The Wolves appeared to tie it with less than a minute remaining on Wiggins’ putback off a Towns miss, but the officials waved off the basket.

Last night, the Minnesota Timberwolves opened up the home portion of their regular season by hosting the Portland TrailBlazers. The final score: 106-101.

“We had a hard training camp”, interim coach Sam Mitchell said. “No matter how bad the day was, or how crummy the weather may have been, he was going to say something or do something to make us feel better”.

Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns, left, drove around Portland Trail Blazers’ Al-Farouq Aminu in the first half of the game.

“There definitely was a chance just because of what he means and what he is in Minnesota, especially in the basketball world”, Jones said this week. He said it was emotional and though he didn’t know Saunders personally, from afar he always respected him.

There was also a musical tribute that took place before the game. I was blessed to have the short time I had with him, to meet him and be in his presence, talk to him, touch him, laugh with him. “I just tried to use my energy in a good way, and just use it for our team”.

The 19-year-old No. 1 draft pick is the youngest player in National Basketball Association history to open the season with two straight double-doubles.