MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Terrell Brandon and Kevin Garnett hope to make at least one more road trip this season. But in order to do so, they will have to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 4 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series tonight.

Brandon played the point to perfection in Game 3 here on Sunday. He collected a playoff career-high 28 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds and the game-clinching basket for the Timberwolves, who rebounded from two tough losses in Portland with a rousing 94-87 triumph over the Blazers.

Garnett had his second triple-double of the series with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Tonight, he hopes to help force a fifth and decisive game in Portland on Thursday.

"We're 2-1 in a hole," said Garnett, who never has won a playoff series. "We must take these games as being precious. You say, `Can we do it again?' We have to. If we want to pass the marks we set, we have to win."

	SEASON SERIES
	Jan. 6 Mar. 16	at Minnesota 98, Portland 96 Minnesota 96, at Portland 92

In Games 1 and 2, the Blazers appeared to benefit from being at home, making most of the clutch plays and getting a favorable whistle down the stretch. But the Timberwolves made the plays and got the calls at the Target Center on Sunday.

"It's a lot better playing at home than on the road from the crowd standpoint," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "I thought our crowd was outstanding. It was one of the best local crowds we have had in a long time. We have had three very good games against Portland. They've been very competitive games."

Another key to Minnesota's performance at crunch time was the play of reserve guard Anthony Peeler, who scored 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter.

Portland forward Scottie Pippen, who averaged 24.5 points in the first two games, was limited to 16 -- none in the fourth quarter.

"We're looking forward to Game 4," Pippen said. "We're excited that we stayed this close to this team, as poorly as we played."

The Blazers snapped a streak of six straight first-round eliminations last season, while the Wolves are still looking for their first trip to the conference semifinals.

All seven games between these teams this season have been decided by seven points or less and neither club has broken the 100-point mark in those contests.

PORTLAND 10-game log	MINNESOTA 10-game log
Apr. 2 Apr. 5 Apr. 6 Apr. 8 Apr. 10 Apr. 11 Apr. 13 Apr. 16 Apr. 18 Apr. 19 Seattle Houston @ Vancouver Vancouver @ Utah @ Dallas @ San Antonio Sacramento @ LA Clippers Denver W 95-82 L 105-118 L 87-89 W 98-85 W 90-86 L 81-92 W 93-77 W 102-95 W 116-100 L 95-96	Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 6 Apr. 7 Apr. 10 Apr. 12 Apr. 14 Apr. 16 Apr. 17 Apr. 19 Phoenix Atlanta @ LA Clippers @ Sacramento Detroit @ Seattle @ Vancouver @ LA Lakers @ Golden State Dallas L 86-87 W 86-76 W 112-90 W 95-92 W 102-100 L 83-110 W 104-94 L 95-101 W 101-96 L 107-113