How will Minnesota Timberwolves fare in final must-win game?

The Minnesota Timberwolves 2022-23 NBA season all comes down to the final game, which is a bit on par with a Minnesota Timberwolves record that has flirted with either side of that .500  balance throughout the entire 2022-23 NBA season. Now, the Minnesota Timberwolves (41-40) have one final contest, the season finale against the New Orleans Pelicans (42-39), and the winner earns a much better route to the NBA Playoffs.

Of course, the Timberwolves have some autonomy over their future fortune, but they are not entirely on the path of manifest destiny. This team needs two things to happen to earn the seventh seeding, which will give them two chances to win a game during the NBA Play-In Tournament at Target Center.

The first and foremost task is to defeat a red-hot New Orleans Pelicans team.

The second task is to cheer for the Utah Jazz to somehow defeat a red-hot Los Angeles Lakers team.

In that scenario, the Minnesota Timberwolves would end the season in a dead heat with both the Pelicans and the Lakers, but by virtue of NBA tiebreakers, would land in the uppermost seeding. If the Lakers defeat the Jazz, then the Timberwolves can do no better than the eighth-seed spot in the NBA Western Conference. If the Timberwolves lose to the Pelicans, then they will finish the season at 41-41 and will host the Oklahoma City Thunder (tenth-seed) for the right to face the loser of the Lakers vs. Pelicans NBA Play-In Tournament and a chance to compete in the NBA Playoffs once more.

Can Timberwolves win a Must-Win game?

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been almost impossible to fix on the scale of will-they-or-won’t-they-win? this season, as the team has claimed surprising victories against formidable opponents. But when the Timberwolves have faced less competitive opponents, the team has found a way to play down to the competition and lose, which has been devastating to their NBA Playoff chances so far this season.

The most recent shocking loss, a third loss in four games to the Portland Trail Blazers, nearly derailed the Timberwolves’ aspirations of postseason play:

And yet, here we are. After suffering a devastating 40th loss of the 2022-23 NBA season, the Minnesota Timberwolves schedule held just three games: on the road against the Brooklyn Nets, on the road against the San Antonio Spurs, and finally at home to face the New Orleans Pelicans. The Timberwolves have managed to recover with a two-game winning streak, and are poised at the cusp of one more victory. Now the question is, can the Timberwolves do it?

That’s a question whose answer will not be long in coming.

The Minnesota Timberwolves may have struggled against some inferior competition this season, but the team has competed hard against more successful teams. Furthermore, the Minnesota Timberwolves roster is beginning to finally congeal. Late addition point guard Mike Conley Jr. has competed for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 23 games, and he has had the benefit of playing with power forward Karl-Anthony Towns in just seven contests. Finally, a late-season injury to shooting guard Anthony Edwards has limited the Timberwolves’ starting five to just six games playing together.

Today’s contest on April 9, 2023, against the New Orleans Pelicans will be their seventh game. With each game, this group finds new ways to compete together. How will the Minnesota Timberwolves fare in their final must-win game of the 2022-23 NBA season? We’ll know soon enough.

But we can say that the team has never been in a better position to win a must-win game all season.