Timberwolves dominate play-in game over Oklahoma City, will face Denver in first round of NBA playoffs

Nobody jumped on a scorer's table this time around, the way Patrick Beverley did last year when the Timberwolves advanced to the playoffs with a victory in the play-in game.

There were happy Wolves and happy fans, for sure, but the aftermath of Friday night's 120-95 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder felt like a needed sigh.

The season began with awkwardness around the pairing of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, and hit a snag when Towns suffered a right calf injury that kept him out until late March.

There were plenty of disappointing losses, more trades and most recently, infighting.

It all led to a more muted celebration Friday, but the Wolves still made the playoffs for a second consecutive season, the first time the franchise has done that since 2004. The Wolves earned the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference will face the top-seeded Nuggets in Game 1 in Denver on Sunday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. on TNT,

"This season was a tough one in a lot of ways," coach Chris Finch said. "We're happy for the fans, we're happy for the organization. We felt all season we were a playoff team no matter what the circumstances were. Very pleased the guys continued to fight through everything."

Literally and figuratively. But there was no internal drama present Friday like the last time the Wolves played at Target Center, when Rudy Gobert took a swing at Kyle Anderson during a timeout in Sunday's regular-season finale vs. New Orleans.

Gobert, suspended for Tuesday's play-in loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles, came in questionable because of back spasms but still started. That made Anthony Edwards feel much better.

"Once I found out Rudy was playing, I kind of knew we already had the game," said Edwards, who had 19 points. "... They want to get to the rim and Rudy is the best rim protector. I knew we was good."

Gobert said his back got worse throughout the night, though he added he would be able to play in the playoff opener at Denver. Despite the pain, he delivered one of the highlights of the night, when he lost the ball, got it back, then dribbled behind his back for a layup late in a third quarter that broke the game open for the Wolves. He finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

"Back to my old days when I was playing the '3,' but I was 15," Gobert said. "I haven't done that for a while. It just came off instinct."

The Wolves extended a 10-point halftime lead to 17 in the third quarter thanks in part to 11 points in the quarter from Karl-Anthony Towns. Friday's matchup was a referendum on the Wolves' two-big man lineup against a much smaller Oklahoma City team.

Before Gobert's flashy play in the third, Towns punished the Thunder's smaller front line. He did exactly what the Wolves needed him to do with an efficient night scoring — 28 points on 11-for-16.

"It feels great," Towns said of the playoff berth. "This is what you envision when you get drafted. Just wanting to play in the playoffs and give ourselves a chance to play winning basketball. I'm super happy that we're here again, two years in a row."

Those who played regular minutes all had their moments Friday. Mike Conley had 14 points and provided another of the night's highlights, when he chucked a pass three quarters of the court to Towns, who found Gobert for a dunk in the fourth quarter.

"You just feel a sense of pride in what we were able to accomplish tonight," Conley said. "I'm proud of the guys for bouncing back."

Towns provided the offensive burst that helped carry the Wolves, but they got inspiration on the defensive end from a player who wasn't even on the roster when the season began. Finch said team President Tim Connelly came to him on Thursday and suggested starting guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who came to the Wolves in the three-way trade that brought Conley to town and sent D'Angelo Russell out of it.

The Wolves started Alexander-Walker so he could hound his cousin, Thunder All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That's exactly what he did. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 points on just 5-for-19 shooting, and it seemed Gilgeous-Alexander only scored or got to the free-throw line when his cousin wasn't guarding him.

"Really proud and happy for him to come out and be able to play a game like this," said Finch, who also was a Pelicans assistant when Alexander-Walker was in New Orleans. "Someone said he's had five coaches in his career so far, something like that. So it's tough for a guy to come into the league with a vision of who you are and how you want to play, and make your mark on the league. And it doesn't always unfold like that, certainly not right away.

"I think he's at peace with now who he is as a player. He plays to his strengths a lot more."

Alexander-Walker, who had 12 points, has said repeatedly he is thankful for coming to Minnesota and the opportunity Finch has given him in the rotation. Friday was the culmination of everything he had worked for since coming to the Wolves.

"I was just so thankful for that opportunity to start and have that assignment to guard him," Alexander-Walker said. "It's a little different because this is somebody I grew up with my whole life. I feel like as far as people, he knows me better than anybody and I know him better than anybody, I could say. It was really cool to have that experience and go against him."

His teammates, like Towns, said the Wolves would not have won without him.

"There's really no way to put it. We can talk about everyone down the list who had big numbers, but Nickeil did the job," Towns said. "He's the one who took us to the finish line."

For all the close games the Wolves have played of late, they got to the finish line of this one in relatively easy fashion. That caused Finch to crack: "It was nice not to give back a lead, which we've done quite a bit."

For all that has happened this season, the playoffs now await. If this season has shown anything, it's that win or lose, the Wolves are likely to make it interesting in a lot of different ways.

"We did a great job of taking care of business tonight and now we're where we belong, where we want to be," Gobert said.