Howl: T-wolves win to reach postseason
MINNEAPOLIS — The toughness that Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and the rest of the veterans brought to the Minnesota Timberwolves this season was on display from start to finish.
Finally, after a 14-year absence, the long-languishing franchise is back in the playoffs. It took until the last game and then some to get there.
Butler scored 31 points, Karl-anthony Towns had 26 points and 14 rebounds, and the Timberwolves outlasted the Denver Nuggets 112-106 in overtime Wednesday night in the first final-day play-in game in the NBA in 21 years.
No team in the league had gone longer without a postseason appearance than the Timberwolves, who took Towns with the first overall pick in the 2015 draft and traded for Butler last summer to put themselves in position to return.
“I’ll probably fall asleep tonight and wake up in the middle of the night and start crying,” said Towns, who was 8 years old the last time the Wolves were in the playoffs. “It’ll hit me, what happened.”
The Nuggets won six in a row to force this elimination game, including a 100-96 decision in Denver last week that was the last time the Wolves (47-35) played without Butler, and went 23-12 over their previous 35 contests.
Nikola Jokic locked in a classic big man battled with Towns, finishing with 35 points and 10 rebounds, but he missed six of his last eight shots after the third quarter as the valiant finish to this season fell just short. The Nuggets (46-36) haven’t made the playoffs in five years.
Now it’s the Timberwolves who are moving on to play, gulp, the Nba-best Houston Rockets.
Also in the West, the Golden State Warriors will play the San Antonio Spurs, the Portland Trail Blazers will play the New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder will play in the Utah Jazz.
In the East, the Toronto Raptors will play the Washington Wizards, the Boston Celtics will play the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers will play the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers will play the Indiana Pacers.
At Philadelphia, Joel Embiid and JJ Redick watched from the bench,
Ben Simmons had a scoreless first half and Philadelphia still won its 16th consecutive game to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Markelle Fultz became the youngest player in NBA history with a triple-double with 13 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.
At Oklahoma City, Paul George scored 40 points, Russell Westbrook clinched a triple-double average for the second straight season and Oklahoma City ensured it wouldn’t be a No. 8 seed. Westbrook entered the night needing 16 rebounds to clinch the triple-double average. He pulled down his 16th rebound with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter and received a standing ovation.
At Portland, Ore., Damian Lillard scored 36 points and had 10 assists to help Portland grab the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. The Jazz-blazers game was the 1,230th and final regular-season matchup of the season.
At Orlando, Fla., Washington went cold in the fourth quarter of its regular-season finale to lose to Orlando and finish eighth in the Eastern Conference.
76ers 130, Bucks 95 — Thunder 137, Grizzlies 123 — Trail Blazers 102, Jazz 93 — Magic 101, Wizards 92 —