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Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jimmy Butler knows just how important it is for the city to see its team in the playoffs, and while the road has had plenty of bumps, his team is just one hurdle away from punching a ticket to the postseason.
The Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets both took care of business last night, winning their respective games against the Memphis Grizzlies and the Portland Trail Blazers — setting up a win-or-go-home season finale scenario that will replicate the feeling of a wild card game.
“I think this city deserves to be in the playoffs,” said Butler, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell. “But we're the only ones that control that, nobody else, no other game… if we win this game on Wednesday I think that puts us in the playoffs, right? So that's what we got to do.”
Both teams are in the driver seat of their own destiny — win the game, welcome to the playoffs — lose, and prepare for a summer filled with what-ifs and an onslaught of changes to make this situation avoidable in the future.
To the victor goes the spoils, but the spoils won't be pretty, likely drawing a matchup against the top-seeded Houston Rockets; though the possibility of a tiebreaker over the Oklahoma City Thunder for seventh place still exists if OKC loses in an unlikely chain of events against the Grizzlies on Wednesday.
Butler has dropped 33 points in his 45 minutes back on the court after recovering from a torn meniscus injury, and his minutes allocation is likely to be lifted for this end-of-season matchup against the Nuggets.
