- Patrick Beverley has completely changed the culture surrounding the Timberwolves since arriving in an offseason trade, states Cole Huff of The Athletic, who adds that the veteran guard has inspired toughness everywhere he’s been in his NBA career.
MARCH 28: The Jazz have officially signed Monroe to his 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. The deal will run through April 6.
MARCH 27: Veteran center Greg Monroe will sign a 10-day contract with the Jazz, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Utah will be the fourth team of the season for Monroe, who previously played on 10-day contracts with the Timberwolves, Wizards and Bucks. He has appeared in a total of 10 games this season, averaging 5.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 14 minutes per night.
As backup center Hassan Whiteside battles a right foot sprain, Monroe will provide insurance on the depth chart behind Rudy Gobert as the Jazz try to hang onto fourth place in the Western Conference. With 14 days left in the regular season, the 31-year-old will have an opportunity to audition for a spot on Utah’s playoff roster.
The Timberwolves had interest in re-signing Monroe, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). Naz Reid‘s foot injury may put the Wolves in the market for a big man.
Utah has an opening on its 15-man roster, so a corresponding move won’t be necessary. If Monroe officially signs today or Monday, he will be eligible for five games during the 10-day deal.
The NBA has announced (via Twitter) that it is penalizing Timberwolves backup power forward Taurean Prince to the tune of $15K for “making an obscene gesture” during the third quarter of the club’s 116-95 victory over the Mavericks on Friday.
Prince got into an altercation with Dallas All-Star guard Luka Doncic, resulting in both players being assessed technical fouls, per Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). The win was big for the Timberwolves, who trail the Mavericks by just 2.5 games for the fifth seed in the Western Conference. Minnesota is currently the No. 7 seed.
The 6’7″ Prince is averaging 7.2 PPG and 2.5 RPG across 16.7 MPG in a largely reserve role for an upstart Minnesota club. He boasts shooting splits of .458/.380/.764 in his first season with the team. A 2022 unrestricted free agent, Prince is in the last year of a two-season, $25.3MM deal he signed with the Nets in 2020.
Sporting a 43-32 record, Minnesota is in a good position to make its first postseason appearance since 2018, largely behind the play of All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns and second-year shooting guard Anthony Edwards. Prince has value around the league as a switchable veteran forward with shooting prowess, and could very well opt to sign the best possible deal for himself rather than sticking around in Minnesota next season.
The Suns, who hold a nine-game lead over the NBA’s next-best team, are close to clinching the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. The two teams behind them in the standings, the No. 2 Grizzlies and No. 3 Warriors, each have a two-game cushion over their next-closest competitor.
After the top three though, the West’s standings get a little more congested. The No. 4 Jazz, at 45-27, are separated from the No. 7 Timberwolves (42-31) by just 3.5 games, with the Mavericks (44-28) and Nuggets (43-30) sandwiched in between them.
All four clubs have looked like playoff teams, but – barring a massive Warriors collapse – only three will finish in the top six in the West. The other will end the regular season at No. 7 and will need to win a play-in game in order to officially earn a playoff spot.
The Timberwolves have been locked into the No. 7 seed since January and have the seventh-hardest schedule the rest of the way, according to Tankathon. That probably makes them the odds-on favorite to finish outside of the top six. But they’ve been one of the hottest teams in basketball over the last few months, having gone 26-11 since the new year. They’ll also control the tiebreaker vs. Denver and will face the Nuggets once more on April 1 with a chance to gain ground.
The Nuggets have a more favorable schedule, but have been a little shakier as of late — before Tuesday’s win over the Clippers, they’d lost four of their last six. With no guarantee that Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. will be back before the end of the regular season, Denver can’t necessarily count on getting reinforcements down the stretch.
The Jazz and Mavericks look like safer bets for top-six finishes, since time is running out for Denver or Minnesota to catch them. Still, it’s worth noting that Utah has the NBA’s fourth-hardest remaining schedule, per Tankathon, with only two games left against non-playoff or play-in opponents. Dallas, meanwhile, has big games in Minnesota on Friday and vs. Utah on Sunday — losing both of those contests would make the Mavs’ top-six position more tenuous.
We want to know what you think. Will the West’s current playoff teams hang onto their spots and force the Timberwolves into the play-in tournament? Or will Minnesota catch the Nuggets or another team and secure a playoff spot by the end of the regular season?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts and predictions on the West’s playoff race!
Three players have been fined for their actions over the weekend, according to press releases from the NBA.
Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley was fined $20K and Bucks guard George Hill was docked $15K for their altercation in Saturday’s game that resulted in both players being ejected (video link).
Taurean Prince and Serge Ibaka were entangled while battling for a rebound late in the first quarter when Beverley shoved Ibaka from behind. Hill responded by pushing Beverley.
Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, who is sidelined with plantar fasciitis, received a $40K fine for taking a fan’s cell phone after Sunday’s game in Indiana and throwing it into the crowd.
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), the fan in question allegedly made disparaging comments about Nurkic’s mother and grandmother. Nurkic’s grandmother passed away of COVID-19 in 2020.
Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns has been named the Player of the Week for the Western Conference, while Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has won the award for the Eastern Conference, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
Oddly, this is the third time this season that Towns and Tatum have earned Player of the Week honors for the same week. Both players won the award on December 20 and again on March 7.
Towns’ numbers during the week of March 14-20 were buoyed by his 60-point, 17-rebound outburst in San Antonio last Monday, but he also led the Timberwolves to blowout victories over the Lakers and Bucks. He averaged 38.3 PPG, 12.0 RPG, and 3.0 APG on .569/.600/.925 shooting in just 31.4 minutes per contest in those three wins.
Tatum’s Celtics also enjoyed a dominant 3-0 week as they continued their climb up the Eastern standings, winning by 20 or more points in Golden State, Sacramento, and Denver. The All-Star forward put up 29.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 5.0 APG with a .592/.571/.933 shooting line in those three games (34.6 MPG).
The other nominees for this week’s Player of the Week awards were Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, and Donovan Mitchell in the West, along with Kevin Durant, Darius Garland, Tyler Herro, Pascal Siakam, and Tatum’s teammate Jaylen Brown in the East (Twitter link).
- Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns expressed confidence in his squad after winning its fourth straight game, Dane Moore of Bring Me The News tweets. Minnesota defeated Milwaukee 138-119 on Saturday. The team is 9-1 in its last 10 games, leading Towns to make the following statement: “Any time we step on the court, we should win… We feel we can beat anybody.”
Jarred Vanderbilt played 25 minutes on Wednesday, but the Timberwolves forward is still bothered by a left quad contusion, Chris Hine of the Star Tribune tweets. Head coach Chris Finch said Vanderbilt, who is listed as questionable to play on Saturday, is closer to 70% than 100% and he’ll remain on a minutes restriction.
The Timberwolves cruised to a 124-104 win on Wednesday night in Minnesota, handing the reeling Lakers their third consecutive loss and the 12th loss in their last 15 games. En route to the victory, several Wolves players seemed to relish the opportunity to talk trash to Los Angeles players, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes.
In a pair of sequences that went viral, Karl-Anthony Towns and Patrick Beverley mocked Russell Westbrook after he put up an airball (video link), and Beverley mockingly plugged his nose and appeared to call Westbrook “trash” after forcing a turnover (video link). After the game, James brushed off the trash talk as “part of the game,” while Westbrook said he wasn’t bothered by it, taking a shot at the Wolves in the process.
“Nobody over there has done anything in this league that would make me pick my eyes up, like, ‘Oh, they’re talking mess. Let me respond.’ No. It’s fine,” Westbrook said, per Youngmisuk. “They’re good. They won the game. Happy for them. Move onto the next one.”
Beverley, who has gone back and forth with Westbrook in the past, replied to the Lakers guard’s comments via Twitter later in the night: “Playoffs every year. 2 western conference finals with 2 different Teams 👀👀👀 individual stats or team stats? I thought it was a team sport??”
Here’s more on the Wolves:
- Both Beverley and Anthony Edwards spoke on Wednesday about the Timberwolves’ increasing confidence, explaining that this season’s team has a level of “swag” that has been missing in the past. “Being on the other side, coming into Minnesota, a swagless team over the years. Not really understanding an identity, but this year is very different,” Beverley said, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “We know exactly who we are. We’re not backing down from anybody. Humbly though, very humbly. Not arrogant in that sense. Very comfortable in our skin.”
- Towns has faced criticism over the years, especially following Jimmy Butler‘s departure, based on a perception that he lacks toughness and doesn’t have a killer instinct. But Beverley, who had heard those stories before joining the Wolves, has been pleasantly surprised by what he has seen from the big man this season. “I thought my biggest task when I came here was going to be KAT and it’s not. It’s been great,” Beverley said (Twitter link via Hine). “Man, of course you hear all those stories about different players before you meet them. … It’s totally the opposite of everything I’ve heard.”
- After sustaining an ear injury last Friday, Beverley has returned to the starting lineup for Minnesota’s last two games and played well, but he said on Wednesday night that he’s been having some trouble hearing and will see a specialist about the issue, tweets Hine.
- Karl-Anthony Towns‘ 60-point outburst Monday was accompanied by a joy that was missing when he set the previous team record of 56 in 2018, observes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. After some difficult years with the Timberwolves, Towns is now the leader of a winning team that enjoys playing together. He could be headed for a spot an All-NBA team, which would make him eligible for a four-year super-max extension this offseason.
- Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels suffered a high ankle sprain, tweets Chris Hine of The Star-Tribune. Josh Okogie is expected to get extra playing time while McDaniels is sidelined (Twitter link).