NBA Cup: Timberwolves win with team effort vs Spurs

Not only did they notch another line into their regular season win column, but the victory makes the Timberwolves 1-0 in the new ‘NBA Cup’ in-season tournament. Anthony Edwards showed why he is getting Michael Jordan comparisons from scouts, scoring 28 points to go with 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

Related: Timberwolves Fans Flock Back to Target Center in Droves

WHAT A FINISH 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/pd1sipjK4R

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 11, 2023

Ant wasn’t the only star who contributed in big ways vs the Spurs. It was a group effort. All five starters scored in double figures and Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been off to a slow start this season, posted a double-double, scored 27 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

13 IN THE THIRD FOR KAT 😼 pic.twitter.com/vnkuwVVYd4

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 11, 2023

Wolves prove they can win when they do not bring A game

And in all honesty, tonight’s win might be one of the Wolves worst performances of the season. They fell behind early and played sloppy throughout, turning the ball over 18 times, even allowing a very young and mediocre Spurs team to come back from 18 points down to make it way too close of a game, late.

Related: Rudy Gobert is Who Timberwolves Thought He Was

But even in a game where they allowed the 2nd most points of their young season, this game was never really in question. The Wolves have now won 5-straight games and look like a top-5 team in the NBA, just like Bill Simmons said.

30 Teams. One NBA Cup.

The first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament tips off Friday, November 3. Watch on ESPN, TNT, NBA TV and ABC! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/3nSe06UsaA

— NBA (@NBA) October 25, 2023

Timberwolves NBA In-Season Tournament tips off

The 2023 tourney started on November 3 and a champion will be crowned on December 9, but the Minnesota Timberwolves play their first in-season tournament game tonight, vs the San Antonio Spurs.

Related: Timberwolves are Bill Simmons’ Sleeper; Top-5 in His NBA Power Rankings

Here’s how the NBA in-season tournament works, plus anything else you need to know before tonight’s group play matchup.

Group Play

The Western and Eastern conferences were each split into three groups (of 5 teams). Through November 28, teams will do battle round robin style within their 5-team groups. Every team will play four games (two and home and two on the road). The Minnesota Timberwolves are in Group C of the Western Conference.

West: Group C

1. Minnesota Timberwolves
2. Sacramento Kings
3. Golden State Warriors
4. Oklahoma City Thunder
5. San Antonio Spurs

The team with the best round-robin record in each group, will automatically advance to the Knockout Stage, along with one wild card team (best group play record that didn’t win their group) from each conference.

Knockout Stage

That means the knockout stage of the in-season tournament will have 8 total teams (4 from each conference). This portion of the tournament is bracket-play single-elimination.

Related: Timberwolves Fans Flock Back to Target Center in Droves

The first round is played at the higher seed’s home court (on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5). The semi-finals and finals will be played at a neutral site on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9.

Other details:

• Each team has a special court design for NBA Cup games
• NBA in-tournament games count toward the overall season record of the teams that play in them.
• Those who move on will have the knockout stage games count toward their regular season records.
• Those who are knocked out in group play, will continue their regular season schedule**

The start of this particular spring work week signifies the final three days of the NBA’s regular season. With the Timberwolves looking to snap the NBA’s longest current playoff drought, the final two games of their 2017-18 campaign might prove to be more important than Patrick Reed’s final two putts at Augusta.

At about the same time the Masters champion was taking pictures in the Green Jacket, Ricky Rubio and the Jazz were toying around with the Los Angeles Lakers. Utah’s 15 point victory over L.A. means that they have officially clinched a postseason birth. While the Spanish PG’s new squad joins Houston, Golden State, and Portland as playoff bound teams, five other franchises will fight it out for the remaining four spots.

Western Conference Standings:

The way things currently stand, it would take a Matt Damon in Goodwill Hunting type person, to decipher all of the West’s seeding scenarios. We’ll have plenty of time on Tuesday and Wednesday for that brain-teaser. For now, let’s focus on what it will take for the Timberwolves to secure the first postseason spot since 2004:

#Twolves can clinch a playoff spot tomorrow if:

Minnesota defeats Memphis

AND

San Antonio defeats Sacramento (7 @ SA 7:30 pm CT)

AND

Denver loses to Portland (@ DEN 8 pm CT)

— Timberwolves PR (@Twolves_PR) April 8, 2018

That’s right, folks. On Monday night, our brutally long wait can finally be laid to rest. Despite coming off like a long-shot parlay, there is a very good chance the three outcomes (laid out in above Tweet) occur exactly as needed.

To start things off with the Wolves, do we all remember the last time they faced Memphis? Two weeks ago, the teams’ loss to a Wayne Seldon-lead Grizzlies’ squad wasn’t pretty was a shit-show.

Thud: Wolves lose 101-93 to a Grizzlies team that had won once since January

— Jerry Zgoda (@JerryZgoda) March 27, 2018

When you combine the importance of tonight’s game, with that little bit of revenge factor, indications point to a Minnesota victory. Toss in some other key factors: 1) – the “rematch” will include a man named Jimmy Butler, along with, 2) – Memphis is on the back-end of a back-to-back, Tom Thibodeau’s team should win in blowout fashion.

Moving on to Gregg Popovich’s team, we’ll keep their matchup vs. the Kings short-and-sweet:

– Sacramento is BAD (the Spurs are 13.5 point favorites).

I fully expect that San Antonio will take care of business.

Assuming those two predictions hold, a Portland defeat of Denver equals a playoff berth. With the Trail Blazers losing their last three games, they are (surprisingly) yet to lock up round 1 home-court advantage. Fortunately for Wolves Nation, if Dame Lillard & Co. beat Denver, Portland can bank on Game 1 of Round 1, at home.

For both of these teams, the playoff implications riding on Tonight’s game are huge. On that note, ya’ll know what time it is:

Get it, Damian. Let’s go.

If you’re asking me,  it’s time to get the champagne ready. I fully think that the celebratory bottle popping goes down tonight at Target Center.

In the event things don’t go accordingly to plan (my bad), Wednesday’s dual vs. Denver will most likely be a win and you’re in scenario. Hopefully, it doesn’t all come down to the Game 7 type environment, but if it does, all bets are off.

Johnny Minnesota (@TheJohnnyMN)
MinnesotaSportsFan.com