Minnesota Timberwolves’ Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio playing through injuries

The Minnesota Timberwolves just completed a wicked weekend back-to-back on the road, defeating the Golden State Warriors 121-120 on Friday night and then falling to the Portland Trail Blazers 115-104 on Saturday.

When it comes to those portions of the NBA schedule, teams have to keep their expectations realistic. A split of back-to-back road games against playoff teams? You bet the Timberwolves are happy with that. Other than that, teams just want to stay healthy, especially with their key players.

It’s in that area that the Timberwolves got dinged a bit this weekend, as Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio both sustained ankle injuries (Love bumped his knee as well). Both players took those hits Friday night and played through the injuries in Saturday’s loss in Portland.

Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the following:

"Rubio sprained his ankle drawing a charge from Andre Iguodala late in Friday’s game and couldn’t finish at the very end because of it.‘Not a big deal,’ Rubio said.Love turned his ankle twice and banged his knee Friday, but finished the game even though he limped his way through a good portion of it.‘I was a little worried about him; him and Ricky seemed to be the two that were real aggravated,’ Wolves coach Rick Adelman said, referring to Love.”"

J.J. Barea was also hurt, bruising his back on a wicked fall in Golden State Friday night.

At 21-22 for the season, the ‘Wolves have to make a move soon if they want to hang around the back of a crowded playoff picture in the Western Conference. Their ability to do so will depend on the health of these guys, especially Love. They need these injuries to be nothing more than the bumps and bruises of the season.