The New York Knicks’ attempt to secure a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference was helped along by Jalen Brunson’s return on Saturday afternoon.
In a much more precarious position in the Western Conference playoff race, the Minnesota Timberwolves can only hope that Anthony Edwards’ return on Sunday will give them a boost.
The final regular-season matchup between the Knicks and Timberwolves will take place on Monday night, and the Knicks will be looking to consolidate their position in the East’s top six.
On Saturday, both teams played. Brunson scored 24 points and made a number of crucial plays in the final minutes of a 116-110 victory over the Denver Nuggets, who were visiting. The Timberwolves were defeated by the Toronto Raptors by a score of 122-107, concluding a set in which they had not won.
The Knicks (42-30) went 2-1 as Brunson sat out with a bone injury in his left foot. They will start Monday in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, four games ahead of the seventh-place Miami Heat and eight games ahead of the final play-in tournament team, the Chicago Bulls.
However, Brunson, who has been credited with altering the team’s culture and identity ever since he signed a four-year contract as a free agent in July, reminded the Knicks throughout Saturday’s victory of why he is perhaps the most important player in their quest to advance past the first round of the playoffs for only the third time in this century.
The Knicks took a 36-28 lead in the first quarter thanks to 16 points from Brunson. In the third quarter, New York fell 13 points behind and led 105-104 with five minutes left in the fourth before Brunson scored four points and had an assist. With 43 seconds remaining, Brunson made two free throws to make the score 114-110, then passed the ball to Mitchell Robinson for an insurance dunk 19 seconds later.
The Timberwolves (35-37), who have lost three straight and five of six, continued their ill-timed slump on Saturday. They are almost as close to moving into the top six as they are to completely dropping out of the race for the playoffs.
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz were each 34-36 heading into Sunday’s game against the Phoenix Suns, placing the Timberwolves in a three-way tie for eighth place. Prior to the Los Angeles Lakers’ and New Orleans Pelicans’ games against the Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets, respectively, on Sunday, Minnesota was just a half-game ahead of the sixth-place Dallas Mavericks and a half-game ahead of the 12th-place New Orleans Pelicans.
The Timberwolves, who have been without star focus Karl-Anthony Towns (right calf strain) since late November, retained another key injury Friday, while driving scorer Anthony Edwards (24.7 focuses per game) moved his right lower leg in a 139-131 twofold additional time misfortune to the Bulls. Although Edwards was wearing a walking boot on Friday night, he was unable to participate in Saturday’s game.
