Timberwolves' Austin Rivers sees new, expanded role with Timberwolves in playoffs

DENVER – For the last several weeks of the regular season, Timberwolves guard Austin Rivers wasn't in the rotation, even when he wasn't battling the illness that went around the team in March and April.

But with injuries to Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and now Kyle Anderson — and inconsistent play from others on the bench fighting for minutes — Rivers found himself getting playing time in Game 3 and Game 4. The 10 minutes, 32 seconds Rivers played in Game 4 was the most he played in a game since Feb. 26.

"This is a new experience for me," Rivers said. "I've had times in my career where I've been out of the rotation in the regular season and whatnot. That's just the NBA life, especially as a role player. I've always been in the rotation in the playoffs."

The 30-year-old offered some perspective on how he has handled his time not playing, and how that has differed from previous seasons in his career.

"You have to cheer on your teammates just like you'd want them to do when you're playing," Rivers said. "That negative energy kills you. I've handled things the right way and the wrong way in my career where I haven't been playing and been frustrated. That's only gotten me in deeper holes. Just try to stay positive, stay ready, stay in shape and when your name is called, you just go produce, man. It's what I've been doing my whole life."

Before Game 3, there was no chat between Rivers and coach Chris Finch about possibly playing that night. That's par for the course in the NBA, Rivers said, and it's on him and anybody else to stay engaged with the game at all times. That's not always something that's easy for players to handle.

"Be so locked into the game where you're cheering your teammates on, you feel like you're engaged," Rivers said. "After every game, I felt like I was exhausted, even if I didn't play, just from me standing up the whole time, cheering, yelling. I'm so locked in mentally that if my name is to be called, I don't have to turn that switch on. I'm already into the game."

Rivers has said he can thrive in playoff basketball, which he said is the "purest" basketball.

"It's not about stats," Rivers said. "No one cares about All-Stars. First teams, second teams. The playoffs are only about one thing and that's advancing. It's the best basketball to be played. The refs call the game the right way."

Anderson didn't make the trip to Denver after suffering a left eye injury in the second half of Game 4 when Anthony Edwards' hand accidentally injured Anderson when both were defending.

Finch said it was "too early to say" if Anderson would be available for a potential Game 6, which would be in Minnesota on Thursday.

"He's going through a series of evaluations pretty much on a daily basis to see where we stand at the end of it all," Finch said. "But it's too early to tell for anything. His spirits, he's OK given the injury and he's disappointed he can't be here. But got to hope for the best health possible for him right now."

Anderson is also "on track" to play for China in the FIBA World Cup, according to a report from the South China Morning Post.

Anderson's maternal great grandfather is Chinese, and Anderson has returned to China in recent years to trace his family roots.