Scouting Report | Wolves vs. Thunder

Despite being out of the playoff hunt, the Timberwolves have played pretty well as of late, earning wins over the Warriors, Mavericks and Heat over the last 10 days.

Up next is the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team currently fighting for playoff position. 

The Wolves go into the game with a 36-43 record, 10th in the Western Conference.

Oklahoma City is 46-33, seventh in the West – a half game back from sixth and a half game up from eighth. 

This is the fourth and final matchup between the two teams. The Wolves are 3-0 against the Thunder.

A late storyline for the Wolves has been the play of Gorgui Dieng. Dieng has had an up-and-down season, but it’s been all positives lately. Over the last five games, Dieng has averaged 14.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while shooting a scorching 62 percent from the field.

Dieng has shown he deserves playing time and should go into the offseason with some confidence, something he didn’t have last season. That midrange jumper for Dieng has been absolutely lethal lately. In Friday’s win over Miami, 12 of his 19 points came from the midrange.

With just three games remaining, we still don’t know who the Thunder will play in the first-round of the playoffs.

The sixth, seventh and eighth seeds are all realistic.

The Thunder close out the season against the Timberwolves, Rockets and Bucks.

With the sixth seed, the Thunder would likely play the Rockets. With the seventh, they’d play the Nuggets. And if the fall to eight, they’ll have the Warriors.

A lot of games late in the season don’t matter. That’s certainly not true for the Thunder.

Wolves: Robert Covington (knee), Luol Deng (Achilles), Taj Gibson (calf), Derrick Rose (elbow) and Jeff Teague (foot) are out.

Thunder: Andre Roberson (knee) is out.

Wolves: PG – Jones, SG – Okogie, SF – Wiggins, PF – Saric, C - Towns

Thunder: PG – Westbrook, SG – Ferguson, SF – George, PF – Grant, C - Adams