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<\/p>\nThe Timberwolves should know as well as anyone the importance of a strong finish to the regular season. They have seen firsthand how it can supercharge a postseason run, and how the inverse can lead to waning energy levels and question marks appearing far too late in the year.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, the Timberwolves closed the regular season with a 17-4 record\u2014including an eight-game winning streak and began with them sitting as the 10th seed in the Western Conference but finishing as the sixth. In that one and a half-month stretch, the Wolves corrected a season full of wrongs. Doubt still hovered over the team, but they catapulted themselves into the playoffs and eventually made a run to the West Finals that nobody earlier in the year would have seen coming.<\/p>\n
Over the final month and a half last season, Minnesota went 11-10\u2014featuring two separate three-game losing streaks and saw the Wolves slide from third in the West to sixth. Even though the Wolves went on to beat the Denver Nuggets in six first-round games, their limp to close the regular season raised questions about the team\u2019s mental maturity. Questions that persisted into the playoffs and remained true as the San Antonio Spurs sent them home in the second round.<\/p>\n
The Wolves are trying to stay present right now and are not even thinking about winning a championship, let alone the end of their regular season. Still, Minnesota will face a rather daunting end-of-season sprint this year\u2014a stretch that will greatly challenge this team. A stretch that they must maximize.<\/p>\n
The late-season battle<\/p>\n
Beginning in March, the Timberwolves will play 10 of their final 21 games on the road. 16 of those 21 will be against teams hoping to compete for top seeds in their conference or playoff spots. And at the very end of that stretch, the Wolves will play their longest road trip of the season:<\/p>\n
@ Dallas Mavericks, Apr. 4@ LA Clippers, Apr. 6@ Los Angeles Lakers, Apr. 7@ Lakers, Apr. 9<\/p>\n
Minnesota will then return home on Apr. 11 to play its regular-season finale against the Houston Rockets, capping a stretch with significant playoff implications, depending on how the standings play out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mavs will likely be fighting for a Play-In spot this season, but with Kyrie Irving back, that game on Apr. 4 at American Airlines Center will probably be competitive. The Lakers, behind Luka Don\u010di\u0107, Austin Reaves and the flurry of signings general manager Rob Pelinka has made this summer, could be jockeying with the Wolves for home court advantage in the first round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Rockets, behind Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun and a healthy Fred VanVleet, will also likely be a playoff threat in the West. Who knows, maybe Game 82 this season could come down to the winner taking a higher seed and the loser sliding below them, similar to 2024 and 2018.<\/p>\n
Regardless, this year\u2019s end-of-season stretch will challenge Minnesota\u2019s maturity<\/p>\n
Last year, the Timberwolves played a late-season series in Southern California. They played back-to-back games against the Lakers and Clippers in early March, losing both by a combined 39 points. Those losses placed Minnesota\u2019s immaturity on a pedestal. With the playoffs so close, the Wolves rolled over and took a beat-down beneath the bright lights of Los Angeles. Those losses\u2014and how they transpired\u2014made it very hard to buy into the team making another deep postseason run.<\/p>\n
Instead of placing the questions surrounding them out of mind, at that moment in LA, the Wolves only made those questions louder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Minnesota Timberwolves coughed up a late-season SoCal trip last season. They can’t do the same this year. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
With this year\u2019s SoCal road trip coming even later in the regular season, it will be that much more imperative that Minnesota does not repeat what happened last year.<\/p>\n
The Wolves are well aware that they must mature from last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anthony Edwards is leading that intention by focusing on the present<\/a>, leading a trip to work out with Rudy Gobert in Paris, and realizing that his first season with Ball will come with some struggles<\/a>. Edwards and the Wolves will also have to work at making the fit with newly acquired Jonathan Kuminga operate smoothly. There will inevitably be bumps with that partnership as well, and the Wolves will need Kuminga to buy into a complementary role this season. <\/p>\n If Kuminga can do that by focusing on his defense, rebounding, and off-ball movement without worrying about how many points he is scoring, that would be a mark of maturity for the 23-year-old forward.<\/p>\n At this point in the off-season, being mature is easy. Records are 0-0, and everyone is a title contender. But come March, when the Wolves are playing contested games against playoff contenders with the playoffs in sight, players will be banged up and tired; that will be the true test of whether this team has matured from last season and can stick together through adversity to pull off an end-of-season sprint similar to 2025.<\/p>\n It will also challenge the health of Minnesota\u2019s stars<\/p>\n In a perfect world, the Wolves will have a top-four seed locked up before they depart for Dallas in early April and their starters can rest during that four-game road trip. But in a realistic world, that will not be the case. The Wolves will likely be fighting for key playoff positioning to close the regular season, and their star backcourt\u2019s health will be put to the test.<\/p>\n Minnesota is banking on Ball\u2019s ability to stay healthy while he plays under far greater pressure to win than ever before. Last season, he played in 72 games. But in the previous three seasons, LaMelo played in 42.7% of his team\u2019s total games. He has also never played in the playoffs. Last season was his first taste of meaningful, late-season basketball as the Hornets ripped off a 29-11 close to the regular season, with Ball playing in every one of those games and averaging 28.5 minutes.<\/p>\n Ball must prove this season that he can stay healthy. The Wolves will need him to grind through the bumps and bruises the long, 82-game schedule elicits and still perform at the height of his powers in April and March before continuing to do so during a deep postseason run.<\/p>\n Edwards, meanwhile, has played in 52 playoff games and fully understands the conditioning and sacrifices necessary to lead his team to a championship-contending playoff run. However, at the end of last season, Edwards, who has been remarkably available throughout his NBA career, battled a right knee injury.<\/p>\n Edwards missed 11 of Minnesota\u2019s final 14 regular-season games. In the playoffs, Edwards hyperextended his left knee and missed two games. He returned ahead of schedule for Game 1 of the second round, but was not himself as he faced a constantly blitzing Spurs defense.<\/p>\n He entered this off-season prioritizing getting healthy. Hopefully, with Ball alleviating the pressure on Edwards offensively<\/a>, it can help him stay healthier as the season nears its end. Much of Minnesota\u2019s success this season will hinge on the health of its two superstars, and that will be put to the test during the end of the regular season.<\/p>\n Get Timberwolves On SI straight to your inbox: sign up for our free newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n
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