Shorthanded Timberwolves face off against LA LA Land’s Lakers

The Minnesota Timberwolves are bursting with tough love. Now, let’s be clear about what that means. Tough love is not always the tender hugs, touching of faces to wipe away tears, and a consoling hand placed on another’s shoulder. Tough love is a slap to the face and a shouting command to snap out of it when someone is too self-focused on fear or despair. It’s the way some families share their opinions at a louder volume, regardless of the settings.

The Minnesota Timberwolves go through moments where highly competitive players make the effort to help realign the efforts of everyone on the team. Unfortunately, when the camera is rolling, the image can be a bit unsettling and are nearly always controversial for those who love to stir the pot.

But out of Dischord comes Harmony. Out of Confrontation comes Respect. Out of Dissatisfaction comes Appreciation.  That’s what face-to-face encounters look like, and as we bury ourselves more and more behind computer screens, smartphones, and 280 text characters looks like, we lose the ability to witness how real human dynamics work in the heat of competition.

Shorthanded but not out of it

The Timberwolves are no strangers to playing short-handedly, as the team has competed for nearly two-thirds of their season without their veteran leader, power forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns. Despite his questionable status for this one, he will suit up and start.

The Minnesota Timberwolves had made their decision over the fate of center Rudy Gobert, and it’s not one that helps the team against the potent Los Angeles Lakers right now.

That means that it will be up to Karl-Anthony Towns to dominate the boards against the Lakers.

Next to him will be backup power forward Taurean Prince starting, and next to him will be small forward Kyle Anderson. The Timberwolves backcourt will be handled by shooting guard and Timberwolves’ top scorer Anthony Edwards, and the team will be led by PG Mike Conley Jr as their field general/point guard.

Even in the absence of center Rudy Gobert, small forward Jaden McDaniels, and backup center Naz Reid, the Timberwolves’ starting lineup is quite capable of pulling off a victory. Where it gets quite dicey is the depth of the Timberwolves’ roster. With so few front-court players, the team will struggle to play aggressive defense so as to avoid foul trouble. That gives the homecourt Los Angeles Lakers a huge one-up on the Timberwolves for this win-and-in scenario.

No, there is another

But not all is hopeless for the Minnesota Timberwolves even if the team loses this game. That’s because the NBA Play-In Tournament gives the eighth-seed two chances to earn a playoff berth. If the seventh or eighth seed fails to win and advance to face the second seed, the team is given one more chance at a win-and-in contest.

That game will be at Target Center this Friday and will find the Timberwolves hosting the winner of the Oklahoma City Thunder at the New Orleans Pelicans game. The winner of Friday’s game will advance to face the NBA Western Conference Top Seed, the Denver Nuggets. And center Rudy Gobert will suit up and be quite determined to help the Timberwolves play hard and win that one.

The Timberwolves may have struggled to play well against bad teams this season, but this is a team that can play hard-nosed basketball against good teams, as the Timberwolves won the season series with the Thunder by a 3-1 advantage and against the Pelicans with a 2-1 advantage.

Do yourself a favor and don’t get lost in the moment. The Timberwolves want to compete in the NBA Playoffs, and thanks to their final game victory, have two chances to do so. This team simply needs to win one of their next two games to do so.