7 p.m. vs. Miami • Target Center • Ch. 23, 830-AM
Timberwolves-Miami game preview
April 15, 2021 at 11:31PM
Towns back after missing two games
Wolves update: After missing the past two games to be with his family to mark the one-year anniversary of his mother Jacqueline's death from COVID-19, C Karl-Anthony Towns will play. Towns didn't play the last time the Wolves played the Heat, which was on Feb. 26, 2020, when the Wolves held on for a 129-126 victory in one of the few games they won without Towns late last season. … The Wolves have lost their past two games without Towns by a combined 55 points. G Jaylen Nowell returned the past two games from a right tibia injury and has scored only three points on 1-for-14 shooting.
Heat update: G Jimmy Butler played in Wednesday's 123-106 loss to Denver despite rolling his ankle the previous night against Phoenix. Butler is leading the league in steals at 2.1 per game. He is shooting only 24% from three-point range this season. … C Bam Adebayo is averaging 19 points per game this season, 3.1 more than a year ago. Adebayo also averages 9.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. … Miami ranks seventh in defensive rating at 109.7 points allowed per 100 possessions.
Chris Hine
about the writer
The team's superstar ranted, calling the players “a bunch of little kids” and saying “internally, we soft.” Mike Conley joined him in saying the Wolves are too negative with each other: “We got to be able to talk.”
