Timberwolves Notes: Reid, Edwards, Towns, Playoffs

Karl-Anthony Towns‘ return to action was a welcome sight for the Timberwolves but it created a pleasant dilemma: What to do about Naz Reid?

Though Reid moves to a backup role, he’ll continue to play steady minutes as the team embraces bigger lineups, Chris Hine of The Star Tribune writes.

“We got to find a way to make the two-big lineup work,” coach Chris Finch said. “It has to be who we are in these last eight games. We have the flexibility to go a lot of different directions. But when a guy’s playing this well, he deserves to be out there in some form or fashion. It’s my job to figure it out.”

Reid, an unrestricted free agent after the season, had a team-high 23 points in 21 minutes in the Wolves’ three-point win over Golden State on Sunday night.

We have more on the Timberwolves:

• Anthony Edwards admits he was worn out in his first game back after missing three games with an ankle injury, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweets. Edwards was held to 13 points in 35 minutes. “Tired. Out of shape,” he said. “No legs. But we got the win, man, so I’m cool.”
• Towns hit two clutch 3-pointers against the Warriors. The Wolves had three off-days before the game and that gave them more practice time to get Towns back into a rhythm, Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes. “One thing is trying to work on KAT’s spacing and decision-making when he gets the ball,” Finch said prior to the team’s road trip. “We can’t have him coming in and being too much of a ball-stopper right now. We have a really good rhythm to our offense. The ball has been moving really well.”
• The Wolves pulled within a half-game of the Warriors for the sixth spot in the West. If they can finish in the top six, it would allow them to avoid the play-in tournament. They play Sacramento on Monday night. “We knew where the standings are and we knew we had to beat them at all cost,” Towns told Hine. “We played with that kind of desperation.” Finch didn’t indicate whether Towns and Edwards would play in the second game of a back-to-back.