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The Wolves are in San Antonio on Friday night to face the Spurs—a squad that looked pretty rough to start the season but has since fought their way back into playoff contention behind a resurgent defense.

The Spurs have not allowed an opponent to score over 100 points in six straight games. Those games haven’t been against the strongest opposition, but nevertheless it’s an impressive feat. In the West, a run like that can turn the tide for a team in terms of playoff positioning. The Wolves can use the Spurs as an example of how quickly things can change in the standings.

“It’s unbelievable,” said coach Tom Thibodeau of the Spurs’ defensive efforts. “Certainly, when you look at how they’re doing it, they’re tied together, they’re making great effort, second and third efforts, you have to move the ball against them, you have to move bodies.” 

That goal will be slightly complicated by the continued absence of Jeff Teague, who will be out for at least another week after team doctors decided the best course of action was to keep him on the shelf until an inflamed ankle completely heals. That means there will be more minutes for Josh Okogie and Derrick Rose, who have both been excellent this season.

Rose, especially, provides a lot of offensive options for the Wolves. Thibodeau has many tricks up his sleeve that he uses to get Rose open and in favorable matchups.

“The versatility to play multiple positions,” said Thibodeau. “If a point guard is guarding him you can put him in catch-and-shoot two-guard-type plays where now it’s different for them in terms of how they defend, then if there’s a two on him you put him in point guard plays, so you can create advantages for him.”

Rose’s resurgent season is due in large part to his improved shooting—something he put a lot of hours in on over the summer. He also changed the way he thought about shooting based on advice from some of the best shooters in the game.

“Activating my core, shooting from my core,” said Rose. “When I played on teams [with great shooters], I played with Kyle Korver, they always said they shot from their core. I never understood that until now where you activate your core before the game. I feel like my shot is a lot easier because of how strong my core has gotten.”

Adding that shot has allowed Rose to improve his pull-up jumper as well as his three-pointer. He’s shooting extremely well all over the floor. One good thing creates another as Rose’s shooting opens the floor for his drives.

“He’s just in a great rhythm,” said Thibodeau. “I know it’s something he’s worked hard on in terms of adding the three-point shot, and I think what the three-point shot has done is it’s made people come up on him and now he can use his speed even more.”

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Shootaround Report | The Spurs’ Defense, Rose Shooting From The Core

The Wolves are on the road tonight against the Heat in Miami.

One of the things the team is hoping for is for the bench to continue to gel together. There’s plenty of talent with Jamal Crawford, Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng.

“Just keep working at it,” Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said of his second unit after Monday’s shootaround. “It’s not a one-time thing. You’ve got to do it every day. Everything is performance related. You have to play well with the minutes given to you.”

The bench’s leading scorer, Jamal Crawford, is averaging 10.2 points per game while shooting a scorching 45.8 percent from the 3-point.

The Wolves are hoping he can get hot against the Heat, a team he’s had success against in his career. In 43 career games (18 starts) against the Heat, Crawford has averaged 15.8 points per game.

This includes a 52-point game in 2007 when Crawford was a member of the Knicks.

“I’ve had some successful nights (against Miami),” Crawford said. “One of my highest scoring nights actually came against Miami. It was in New York, but I play pretty well against them.”

Tipoff tonight is set for 6:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Net and 830 WCCO.

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Shootaround Access | Wolves at Heat

The Wolves tip off the 2017-18 season tonight against the Spurs in San Antonio.

It’s the most anticipated season in quite some time for the Wolves with so many additions this offseason.

“We’re here,” Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said after Wednesday’s shootaround. “I think everyone’s looking forward to the start. It’s a good test for us. We’ve gotta be ready.”

One of those big additions this offseason was trading for three-time All-Star Jimmy Butler. After six seasons with the Bulls, Butler is ready to get things rolling with the Wolves.

“I live for this, man. This is what all summer is for. Preseason is fun. Practice is (more fun),” Butler said. “But the games are really where it’s at.”

We have seen the Wolves through three preseason games (two wins and one loss), but that’s obviously much different than the regular season, especially when you’re opening against a team that has made the playoffs each season since 1997-98, including five NBA championships.

Things might be a little easier for the Wolves with Tony Parker and MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard out with quad injuries.

Butler knows even without Leonard out, the Wolves can’t afford to overlook the Spurs.

“Even though he’s out, (Gregg Popovich) finds a way. He’s just intelligent. He knows the game,” Butler said.

Expect plenty of content throughout tonight’s game, including photos, videos and stories.

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Even Without Leonard, Spurs Are Dangerous

On Friday night, Zach LaVine threw down a huge dunk against Alex Len and the Suns. The very next night, Andrew Wiggins might have ended JaVale McGee’s career (he didn’t) with this huge tomahawk dunk.

Wiggins put up the white flag at shootaround, but said both dunks were pretty awesome.

“I’m gonna give him this one,” Wiggins said. “Just because he kind of glided then he got hit then he cocked it back. I feel like mine was nasty, too. I feel it was like Sports Center top 10. His would be No. 1, mine would be No. 2.”

Wolves second-year guard Tyus Jones has been in and out of the lineup this season, but when called upon, he’s delivered. We saw that again on Friday against the Suns when Jones was a +22 in 19 minutes off the bench.

For Jones, it’s not about thinking when or if he’ll get in a game. It’s staying ready for when he does.

“Just staying locked in,” Jones said. “You gotta stay as locked in as possible just because you never know what’s going to happen, when your name’s going to be called. The last couple of games it’s been called in the second half and you just gotta get ready to go out there, and help contribute, and help the team out.”

On the season, Jones has played 15.1 minutes per game and is averaging 4.7 points and 3.3 assists.

Jazz head coach Quin Snyder discussed the versatility of Wolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns after today’s shootaround. He especially talked about Towns’ ability to stretch the floor. Towns is averaging 21.1 points per game this season while shooting 39.4 percent from the 3-point line.

“Matchups dictate a lot in this league and Karl Towns is a tough matchup for that reason. He can also take you down and score in the post, he can score in transition, he can play make. It’s more than being a 5 . . . It’s about being a really, really good player.”

Snyder will go up against a coach that he very much respects in Tom Thibodeau. Thibodeau actually visited Snyder and the Jazz organization when he had last season off.

“It was great,” Snyder said. “When I was in Atlanta, I used to pick Kyle Korver’s brain all the time about what they did in Chicago. The amount of respect I had for him, previous before even meeting him . . . I was hopeful he would come out for a few days and really pleased when he did.”

Jazz center Rudy Gobert is one of the best rim defenders in the league. The big man has averaged at least two blocks per game for three years now. This season, he’s averaging a career-high 2.5 blocks per game. The Wolves might be able to combat, though, with Towns and Gorgui Dieng having the ability to stretch the floor.

“That’s the best thing about being a versatile big,” Towns said. “We have the ability to come outside and also pound inside.” 

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The game will air on Fox Sports North and WCCO 830-AM. 

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Shootaround Access | Wolves vs. Jazz

The Minnesota Timberwolves will take the court for one last time this season on Wednesday night against the 30-51 New Orleans Pelicans.

Minnesota is playing its best basketball as the year comes to an end, as the Wolves are 6-5 in their last 11 games.

“We play hard every game, I’m going to miss coming out here everyday and being with the guys, just being in the locker room, that’s some of the most fun things,” Zach LaVine said after the team's final shootaround on Wednesday.

One big reason why the Timberwolves have been so successful as of late is the help the starters are receiving from the bench.

“Everybody, I think, is sad because this is our last game and we know that we’re not playing in the playoffs, but it was a great experience,” Nemanja Bjelica said. "At the end of the day I’m very happy to be here because I belong to this league and I want to compete against the best players. Of course I had some up and downs, but this is normal and I’m just happy that with myself, I finished the season in a good way, positive and that’s it.”

Bjelica along with rookie Tyus Jones have shown signs of major improvement in the past month and are looking to ride the momentum into the offseason.

“For myself, getting quicker, stronger, more explosive, just trying to improve in all areas of my game, living in the gym, getting up a lot of shots, a lot of repetition on everything,” Jones said of what he will work on in the upcoming months. “When everyone goes back home, you know this is where I’m from, so I’ll be here a lot of the summer.”

Jones has averaged 20.2 minutes in the last five games and has proven to be reliable as he shot better than 46 percent in those five appearances.

“It’s crazy. I feel like I just got drafted,” Jones said. “It’s been a good year. I didn’t know what to expect honestly, coming in, I was open for anything and just ready to learn and be a part of this team and organization. It’s been a great year for me, I’ve learned a lot, made a lot of memories, we have a great group of guys, great coaching staff, and everyone who’s a part of the Timberwolves organization treats everyone with respect and love.”

One player who’s had a whirlwind of a season is the Wolves’ second-year guard out of UCLA. Starting the season at the point guard, LaVine has grown a lot throughout the season and has seemed to really strive at the shooting guard position.

“He knows when I’m pushing,” LaVine chuckled when asked about his relationship with Ricky Rubio. “We’ve had a good connection and whenever he gets it I’m trying to play Randy Moss out there, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

LaVine will look to improve all aspects of his game this offseason, but specifically strength, as he believes getting more free throw attempts is vital for a scorer.

“That’s where the next step is for a dude that can score the ball, you have to get to the free throw line more consistently,” LaVine said. 

The Washington native is also excited to participate in Pro-Am’s all over the country and may even go to Toronto to, "mess with Wiggs."

Minnesota’s wily vet off the bench made one thing clear on Wednesday morning, he’s not hanging up his sneakers.

“I feel good, who knows, I’m not retiring, that’s not a question, but who knows what will happen,” Prince said. “I know one thing, I didn’t expect to play 78, 79 games this year I’ll tell you that much. But for the most part I feel good and we’ll see what happens.”

Prince has been a valuable asset for the Timberwolves defensively all season with his communication and knowledge. The 36-year-old believes heavily in this team and is excited to see what their future has in store.

“The sky is the limit with some of the progress these young guys have shown,” Prince said. “Obviously you see the promise in what KAT, Zach and Wiggs can do here for years to come. The key is to continue to build around those guys, find the right fits, and if you do that you’ll continue to move in the right direction.”

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Last Shootaround Of The Season

The Minnesota Timberwolves hope to extend their wining streak to four games tonight against the Houston Rockets. 

Minnesota is back at home this evening after an outstanding three-game road trip that consisted of victories over Golden State, Sacramento and Portland. 

“When you have these kind of wins at the end of the season, we feel like we’re getting better,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “We feel like we want to pick up where we left off last season, so this is great for us, this is amazing to have this kind of momentum going into the summer.” 

One interesting tidbit regarding the Wolves’ record is their wins at home versus on the road. Minnesota is the only team in the league with a better road record, 15-26, than home record, 13-26. 

“One thing we have to do is improve at home,” Shabazz Muhammad said. “We’re in front of our fans and our home crowd and that’s something that we need to do better and I think next year if we do better at home, we’ll have a really good shot at being a playoff team.” 

A team hasn’t finished the season with a worse record inside their home arena since the New Jersey Nets did it in 2012.

“I’m not sure if we’re not warming up hard enough or what it is,” Muhammad said. “We have to play every game like we did against Golden State, they’re obviously one of the best teams in the league and we have to play like that every game next year if we want to really reach our goals.” 

Playing arguably their best basketball of the season, Minnesota will look to ride this momentum into the offseason. 

“We deserve to finish the season this way,” Nemanja Bjelica said. “It’s much better for me and for a team who isn’t going to the playoffs but did some great things during the season.”

Muhammad and Bjelica’s play as of late 

One big reason why Minnesota has been so successful recently is the performances of Muhammad and Bjelica.

“They’ve been playing great, it’s part of the reason why we’ve been winning games,” Ricky Rubio said.

Bjelica, also known as Professor Big Shots, looks to be finding his rhythm late in the season as he is averaging 9.8 points and five rebounds, while shooting over 66 percent from the field in his last five games.

“He needed it,” Rubio said of Bjelica’s play. “Everybody needs confidence but with him coming from Europe and having a big role and then coming over here and kind of had to start over again. When you’re 20 it’s easy, but when you’re 28 it’s not that easy. It’s something that he needed and he will earn it, he worked hard and he waited for his moment and actually he’s having a tremendous end to the season.”

Bjelica won the Euroleague’s Most Valuable Player award last season and has shown glimpses, especially recently, of the versatility and playmaking ability that he exhibited overseas.

“That’s what he does, he’s one heck of player, I’ve never doubted that for a second,” Towns said. “He showed everyone what he can do early in the season and nothing has changed, whenever his number is called, he comes in and gives us great minutes and that’s why he was such a prized prospect.”

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Shootaround Access | Bjelica's Ending The Season On A Solid Note

The Timberwolves will face a familiar opponent tonight when they take on the 20-53 Phoenix Suns.

The two Western Conference squads have battled it out three times this season, with Phoenix having a 2-1 edge in the matchup so far.

Minnesota suffered a heartbreaking 107-104 loss the last time they played the Suns thanks to a game-winning 3-pointer by Mirza Teletovic.

“They’re a great shooting team,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “I still have a grudge over our last game, Teletovic hit that great shot over me, so I still hold that close to me. We just want to come out, compete at the highest level possible so we can come out with a win this time.”

Three wins and three losses since losing in Phoenix, Minnesota has played well and the starters seem to have really come together as a unit.

“Yeah, we’re playing very well together, especially the last couple of weeks,” Andrew Wiggins said. “I wish we would have clicked like this at the beginning of the year, I feel like the outcome would have been a different story. It’s all going to continue towards next year and building on it every day, it’s a process.”

Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson had high praise for two Minnesota starters in particular during Monday’s shoot around.

Zach has always been like a little brother, and the Bruin family is absolutely really close. I saw Zach play a lot in Seattle where he went to high school. To me he’s a unique player. He hasn’t even scratched the surface. He’s talented, he’s athletic, he’s quick, he can handle, he can score, he can shoot. When he learns to continue to grow and become a master of watching film, he has to master film. When he played pick-up in the Seattle Pro-Am, scoring is easy, so he averaged 60 easy every time. Once he starts to focus on the details of his game, running the point guard position, making players better, post game, pin-downs, bumps, instead of just isolation in the summer time he’s going to sky rocket in this league. I hope he does well, except for every time that he plays us.

He’s really good, like he’s really good. He can, it’s interesting, score in the post like a big, move on the perimeter like a small forward, and he has the jump shot. For him moving forward, he has to balance the outside from the inside. He can’t just become a pick-and-pop player. A lot of young players come into this league and they become pick-and-pop players because they fall in love with their perimeter skills. If he can continue to balance both, I’m not sure how you guard him in the future, like I’m not sure. He’s going to be really good. And Booker tells me how good he is every day.

Hearing that type of admiration from a former player/current coach should get players, coaches and fans excited about the future in Minnesota.

In three games versus Phoenix this season, Towns has struggled a little bit, only averaging 13 points and eight rebounds, compared to his overall season averages of 18.2 points and 10.3 boards per game.

A player who Towns is close with and who happens to be the opposition in tonight’s matchup is Devin Booker.

“Of course, that’s like my brother, we keep in touch a lot with each other,” Towns said of whether he talks to Booker a lot. “I can’t explain to you how great our relationship is. I’ve watched him a lot and just to see him grow as a player, he’s always been a great shooter, but just being consistent as he is. The biggest thing for him now, and I’m so proud of him like I told him already, is for him to have a stretch recently when he wasn’t shooting the ball too well, but to just come out and always have the confidence that made Devin Booker, Devin Booker.”

The Suns’ shooting guard, who’s the youngest player in the NBA at 19-years old, is averaging 22.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists in his last five games.

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Shootaround Access | Wolves vs. Suns

The Minnesota Timberwolves will take on the Sacramento Kings tonight at the Target Center as Minnesota will look to come away with a victory after losing a close battle to the Golden State Warriors on Monday.

In order for the Wolves to win tonight, they might need a great performance from their point guard Ricky Rubio, who has taken his game to the next level as of late.

“It’s very impressive, this is something that Ricky has done his whole life,” Karl-Anthony Towns said of Rubio recent play. “He continues to progress as a great basketball player and he’s getting better every single day. When you have a person like that who’s that determined to be the best at their craft it makes all of us better.”

Over his last five games, Rubio is averaging five more points per game than his season average and is making 10 percent more of the shots he takes.

“I think he’s starting to shoot the ball a lot better,” Shabazz Muhammad said. “Teams this year haven’t really been respecting his 3-point shot and he’s been proving a lot of teams wrong and that’s really been helping us out as a team.”

Since March 11, Rubio is averaging 15 points, 11.4 assists, four rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. On top of those great stats, the 25-year-old Spaniard is making 95.8 percent of his free-throw attempts and is shooting 41.7 percent from beyond the arc. 

“Ricky’s playing well, making shots, cutting down on his turnovers, always a good passer. He’s playing well,” Gorgui Dieng said. “We look like a different team when he’s making shots, we look like a better team when he’s making shots.”

In a great matchup of pass-first point guards, Rubio will be defending Rajon Rondo who leads the league in assists with 11.7 per game.

“They both do the intangibles of the game, they make you offense happen, they can make an average player a good player, they can find the 3-ball, which in today’s game is huge,” Kings coach George Karl said. “Anytime the ball is in that guy’s hands that much, he has a tremendous impact on your offense flows and operates. Defensively they’re both clever defenders. They have the ability to have a defensive game, Rubio especially, can get steals into the game, he has very active hands, he’s a very creative defender. He may not be a stopper, but he’s a creative defender off of the basketball and does a lot of cute stuff out there.”

It will be a must-watch battle tonight at 7 p.m. as the Wolves will look to take down the 27-43 Sacramento Kings.

Minnesota officially announced today that they have signed forward Greg Smith to a contract lasting through the end of the season. 

“It’s a blessing, it’s really, truly a blessing,” Smith said. “I just came in, put my hard hat on, worked hard, showed the team that I was committed to playing with them and showing them that I can be a part of this organization. I’m glad they gave me the opportunity to play here for the remainder of this year and hopefully next year.”

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Shootaround Access | Rubio Looks To Stay Hot

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