LATE FRIDAY T-wolves, Heat earn final spots
The Minnesota Timberwolves went big this season, getting Rudy Gobert for an against-thegrain pairing with Karl-Anthony Towns in a league increasingly revolving around outside shooting and small ball.
That’s how they got in the playoffs, in the last possible game.
Towns had 28 points and 11 rebounds, and the Timberwolves muscled and hustled their way past the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-95 to finish the play-in tournament Friday night in Minneapolis.
“We utilized our size. We did a great job of putting pressure on the paint and just doing what we do best,” Towns said. “Rudy was fantastic. He did a lot for us and really imposed his presence.”
Gobert had 21 points and 10 rebounds in his return from exile for swinging at teammate Kyle Anderson, and the Wolves filled out the NBA playoff bracket by seizing the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference with a nearly perfect performance at the end of another harder-thanit-had-to-be season.
Anthony Edwards added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolves, who had a 58-30 advantage in points in the paint. They will face No. 1 seed Denver in a best-of-seven series starting tonight.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 22 points, going 12 for 12 from the freethrow line but just 5 for 19 from the field. Jalen Williams and Lu Dort each scored 17 points.
Max Strus and Jimmy Butler scored 31 points apiece, and the Miami Heat got into the playoffs by rallying in the final minutes to beat the visiting Chicago Bulls in an Eastern Conference play-in game.
Tyler Herro added 12 points and Bam Adebayo grabbed 17 rebounds for Miami, which trailed by six midway through the final quarter.
But Butler scored while getting fouled with 2:17 left to put Miami ahead for good, found Strus for a 3-pointer — his seventh of the night — a minute later to push the lead to five, and Strus sealed it with three free throws after getting fouled on a try from beyond the arc with 40 seconds remaining.
The win gives Miami the No. 8 seed in the East and a first-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA’s top overall seed, starting today.
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 26 points and nine assists.