Following a high-intensity Game 82 on Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Timberwolves finally punched their ticket into the postseason. Heading into the year, the expectation was to make a championship run while finishing at least top five in the Western Conference. However, they didn’t meet those goals as the team endured a long list of season-altering changes like Karl-Anthony Towns missing 52 games and flipping D’Angelo Russell for Mike Conley at the trade deadline.
Despite everything that occurred this season, you must acknowledge the team’s fight level all year long. They finished with a 42-40 record. While that may be worse than last season’s 46-36 finish, the Wolves face a similar challenge. They’re trying to make the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for only the second time in franchise history.
That challenge? The Play-In Tournament.
Last season, the Wolves finished as the 7th seed in the West and welcomed the Los Angeles Clippers to Target Center to decide who’d matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. Russell led the team with 29 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals on 55% from the floor and 60% from three.
The Wolves wouldn’t have won that game if it wasn’t for the timely shot-making and vocality that Russell provided. Fast forward to April 12th, 2023, and Russell will be squaring off against the team that traded him.
“It’s not the fact that they traded me,” Russell said when asked about facing his former team. “It’s the fact they are standing in the way of what we are trying to do get done. That’s all that matters to me.”
DLo may say he doesn’t care who the team is that stands in his way. But you get the feeling that Russell will try to bring a little something extra Tuesday night in LA, especially after his less-than-stellar performance last time the Lakers played the Wolves.
Old faces aren’t the only thing that stands in the way of Minnesota clinching the 7th seed and getting a second shot at the Grizzlies. The Wolves will be without their two best defenders.
When you get late in the season and are still playing meaningful games, especially when you should have handled business earlier, tempers are going to flare. That’s usually a good thing. As we saw last season, the passion and will to win can drive a team to success. However, what we saw Sunday afternoon was a combination of both.
A random uproar occurred at Target Center during a timeout break. When it happened, I looked up expecting there to be a fight somewhere in the crowd. However, I witnessed Rudy Gobert being escorted out as Minnesota’s bench cleared – away from each other. It was obvious that Kyle Anderson said “the magic words” to Gobert that led him to swing.
Anderson is a guy who likes to keep things real. If he thinks you need to do something different, he’ll let you know it. For the most part, his teammates have respected that part of his leadership – even Gobert.
Being that it was the final game of the season, having emotional outbursts like the one Gobert had is completely unacceptable. The Wolves knew that; they sent him home at halftime. However, this is the highest level of basketball, so sometimes players lose control of their emotions.
Anderson and Gobert appear ready to move on and are remorseful for their roles.
“It is what it is, we move forward,” Anderson said after the game. “We want to win games, it is what it is. It ain’t the first time someone’s swung on me. It is what it is. We keep it in-house. I think tempers just flared. That’s all. We’ll speak about it and move on. We grown men. Let’s move on.”
Regardless if the two have made up and can get past this, Gobert will not be active for the Timberwolves’ first Play-In game as the team suspended him for one game due to his altercation with Anderson.
To make matters worse, it was announced that Jaden McDaniels will be “out indefinitely” after he fractured his third and fourth metacarpals (the bone that connects your hand to your finger).
Obviously, there were a lot of emotions as the Wolves headed into the locker room down eight at halftime. We’ve seen players punch the tarp tunnel this season. However, it appeared that McDaniels made contact with one of the steal poles holding the tarp up – resulting in him missing the second half of the game.
McDaniels has been Minnesota’s best defender all year long, and it’s not even been close.
Losing him is a massive blow as the Wolves are going to try to tango with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, Anthony Edwards may be the team’s saving grace.
Brandon Ingram had a game-high 27 points on 11-of-19 from the floor heading into halftime Sunday afternoon. McDaniels and Anderson had no answer for his ability to carve space in the mid-range.
Minnesota was desperate for consistent stops coming out of halftime. The Wolves only were able to cut into the deficit when Ingram was on the bench. Therefore, not having McDaniels to anchor the defense seemed like Minnesota’s death sentence. However, Edwards was able to hold Ingram to only 15 points in the second half on 5-for-9 from the floor.
Containing the offensive firepower that comes with the Lakers is a completely different task. However, we saw Ant step up against the Pelicans. He’ll need to do something similar if the Wolves hope to get a second playoff series against the Grizzlies.
