After an embarrassing end to the regular season, the Timberwolves coughed up their chance of clinching the No. 7 seed in the West with Tuesday’s loss to the surging Lakers.
They’ll get another chance to make the NBA postseason field on Friday, when the No. 10 seed Thunder come to town after an upset win over the Pelicans.
Can Minnesota right the ship in time to save its season and set up a first-round matchup with top-seeded Denver?
Here’s how we’re betting Friday’s contest, which tips off at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
(via BetMGM)
(9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN)
After the way the regular season ended for Minnesota, bettors aren’t exactly racing to the window to bet a team that suffered two self-inflicted wounds on the same day.
Yet that obscures the clear value on this team in a do-or-die spot on Friday.
The final result of Tuesday’s loss to the Lakers – who have been one of the best teams in the NBA since the trade deadline – belied just how well the Timberwolves played for much of that game.
Minnesota actually shot better than L.A. across the entire contest and led by as many as 15 points despite a lopsided foul differential in the Lakers’ favor.
Alas, the team went scoreless over the final six minutes of regulation before a prayer at the buzzer netted three free throws and an extra five minutes of game time.
That type of cold stretch isn’t ideal.
Still, this team showed some promise in a game that didn’t go their way.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the team with 24 points and 11 rebounds on 66.7% shooting – easily his best performance since before the calf injury that sidelined him for almost four months.
Mike Conley (23 points) pitched in with his fifth-highest scoring total of the year, and he was one of three Minnesota players with at least three steals and multiple made threes.
That list includes Kyle Anderson, who is now most famous for being on the receiving end of the Punch Heard ‘Round the World.
He finished with a classic “Slow Mo” line of 12 points, 13 assists, five rebounds, four steals and four blocks — a stat line that’s been matched just twice before in NBA history.
Clearly, Minnesota has the talent to wake up in a must-win spot.
And I’m expecting an inspired effort against a fun but flawed Thunder squad.
Oklahoma City was one of the NBA’s best surprise stories this year, but it was just 19-33 against teams with a .500 record or better, easily the worst mark of any team in the playoffs or play-in tournament.
That came despite nightly heroics from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 25 of his 32 points in the second half of his team’s win over the Pelicans on Wednesday.
The lion’s share of that production came at or around the rim.
That’ll be tricky to replicate against the T-Wolves, who ranked in the top 10 in opponent field-goal percentage in the restricted area (65.6%) and in the paint outside of the restricted area (41.2%).
Ultimately, this game will likely come down to size.
The Lakers had the personnel to match the Timberwolves, who were without Rudy Gobert (suspension) but should have the big man back on Friday, assuming he’s cleared from the back issue that he’s played through for weeks.
Even if he can’t go, Towns should have a field day against a generally undersized OKC squad, and I’d expect a bounce-back effort from Anthony Edwards after his nine-point performance on Tuesday.
If he and Towns are clicking on Friday, this game will be Minnesota’s to lose.