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Memphis Grizzlies (22-58) at Minnesota Timberwolves (45-35)
FSN
7:00 PM CDT
We’re nearly to the end. With two games remaining, the Wolves have a shot at clinching a playoff spot tonight. There are too many seeding scenarios to go over but this is the one you should be concerned with:
A Wolves win, a Spurs win over the Kings and a Nuggets loss to the Blazers means Minnesota will have ended it’s playoff drought.
That also means the team is unable to surpass San Antonio in the standings but I checked with our doctors and clinching any spot, regardless of position, is much better for our health at this point.
We need the Spurs to win because in a three-way tie between MIN, DEN, and SA, the Wolves are the loser. It’s one of the few tie-breaking scenarios the team does not come out on top of and relates to record in a common schedule I believe (seriously, this is all very confusing).
The Wolves have gone 0-2 against Memphis this year and it has, rightfully so, not made the fans happy. It is true that if they pulled out just one of those games, or one of the Suns games, or you know, any other game against much more inferior opponents (the Wolves have lost eight games to teams with 50 losses this year), we wouldn’t be holding on to our butts right now.
(Side note: In the movie Jurassic Park, when Samuel L. Jackson’s character says that famous line ‘Hold on to your butts...,’ is he talking about cigarette butts or anatomical butts? Discuss.)
Regardless, we are here for this, even though nearly half the Memphis Grizzlies will not be:
.@memgrizz injury/status report, April 9 at @Timberwolves:
— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) April 9, 2018
OUT
M. Conley (L heel)
M. Gasol (rest)
J. Green (R/L knee soreness)
A. Harrison (R wrist/L shoulder)
J. Martin (L ankle)
C. Parsons (R/L knee soreness)
W. Selden (R knee soreness)
T. Evans (personal) remains NWT.
The key missing piece here, and I can’t believe I am typing this, is Wayne Selden. In their last matchup, he torched Minnesota for 23 points in 26 minutes as he shot 9-14 from the field. Classic.
I don’t even want to consider what will happen if the Wolves lose tonight to this shell of an NBA team, but I am sure it will involve yelling, alcohol and fire, in any particular order.
THE TEAM ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LOSE TO THIS TEAM TONIGHT AND I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO GO INTO THIS IN MORE DETAIL.
Look to see Jimmy playing more than he did against the Lakers, but he still as some sort of restriction, according to this:
Me: “Does Jimmy have a minutes limit tonight?”
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 9, 2018
Thibs: “He has a guideline. We want to see where he is conditioning-wise.”
Me: “Around like 32?”
Thibs: “I’m not going to get into the specifics. But we’ll see how he feels.”
A guideline is a new Thibsism.
Let’s just hope that Minnesota is up 86-47 at halftime and Jimmy can just get some pretzels and share them with Tyus as we all pay close attention to the other important games regarding our playoff hopes.
In all seriousness, the way the team looks during this game will be important to watch. This is the ultimate trap game, especially considering all of the players out. There should be no such thing as a trap game for a team in the position of the Wolves, but their effort has been questioned at times throughout the year.
I’d expect the Wolves will come out guns blazing. If not, I expect hellfire in the comments section.
Starting Lineups
Wolves
Jeff Teague
Andrew Wiggins
Jimmy Butler
Taj Gibson
Karl-Anthony Towns
Grizzlies
Ummmmm..
Errr...
Huh...
Who?
?????
Prediction: Wolves 140, Grizzlies 110. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.