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After weeks of uncertainty, the matchup everyone believed was on course to happen will happen. Paul George and the LA Clippers, who have clinched the eighth seed in the Western Conference, will take on Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-in tournament next week.
Minnesota secured the seventh seed after the Denver Nuggets defeated the Memphis Grizzlies Thursday night. The Timberwolves will now host their play-in game, and their opponent will be the Clippers.
Clippers-Timberwolves will be take place on Tuesday, April 12, at 6:30PM PST on TNT.
During the 2021-22 regular season, the Clippers won the season series with the Timberwolves, 3-1.
All four games against the Wolves were played by Jan. 3:
Nov. 3: Clippers 126 @ Timberwolves 115
Nov. 5: Clippers 104 @ Timberwolves 84
Nov. 13: Clippers 129 vs. Timberwolves 102
Jan. 3: Clippers 104 vs. Timberwolves 122
Eric Bledsoe and Justise Winslow were still members of LA for those four games. Paul George, Nicolas Batum, Luke Kennard, and Karl-Anthony Towns did not participate in the final matchup between the two.
What's on the line?
The Clippers-Timberwolves play-in game on Tuesday night will be for the seventh seed in the Western Conference. The Memphis Grizzlies have locked in the second seed in the West, which means the winner of Tuesday's game will be flying to Memphis for Game 1 of the first-round series a few days later.
The loser of the Clippers-Timberwolves game will have another opportunity to secure their playoff spot. The winner of the 9-10 play-in matchup between the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs will face the loser of Clippers-Timberwolves on Friday night.
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The winner of that Friday night game will advance to face the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday night. The loser of that game will be eliminated and likely book the first flight to Cancun that weekend.
Who is available?
The LA Clippers just got Paul George and Norman Powell back from their respective injuries. George has been limited to about 32-34 minutes per game, but the Clippers haven't needed to play him that much over the last few games due to the outcome being blowouts.
Powell will likely only play two regular-season games following the injury before the play-in tournament begins. Both he and the team believe that's enough time to prepare for the Timberwolves and develop a chemistry together.
Luke Kennard missed the Clippers' game against the Suns with a hamstring injury, but head coach Tyronn Lue doesn't expect it to linger beyond the one game.
Kawhi Leonard, who has yet to play this season, is not expected to be available for Tuesday night's game.
The Timberwolves have been relatively healthy over the last few weeks of the season. D'Angelo Russell missed Thursday night's game against the San Antonio Spurs with a hamstring injury. He was a last-minute scratch for the game, and the injury isn't expected to sideline him long.
