MINNEAPOLIS — With Karl-Anthony Towns once again sidelined with injury management, Minnesota won a fourth straight game to into the sixth seed in the Western Conference, setting up a massive game against Phoenix on Wednesday night with the standings still up in the air.
In a postgame edition of the Locked On Wolves podcast, host Ben Beecken broke down how the Timberwolves beat Sacramento on the road and continued their hot play in March.
While the status of Anthony Edwards was the story heading into the matchup, Edwards did play but was held to 6-15 shooting from the field. Instead, rising star Jaden McDaniels took center stage in the big-time victory.
McDaniels scored 20 points on 8-15 shooting to go with two steals.
“It was the aggressiveness with which he played, the confidence with which he played, it was exactly the Jaden McDaniels we got used to seeing for much of the past couple of months,” Beecken said. “This was the version of Jaden McDaniels that led everybody to believe he is a budding star.”
Minnesota was also able to stay close to even on the boards with Sacramento, and outshot the Kings from deep.
After the win, the Timberwolves landed at No. 6 in the West, but Minnesota has tiebreakers over the Clippers, and if they beat Phoenix on Wednesday, they will have tiebreakers over the Suns as well.
“This is so fascinating how many things could change very quickly,” Beecken said. “(Minnesota’s) schedule lightens up considerably over the last week and a half of the season. Of course, the Wolves play to their competition often. So is that a good thing or a bad thing? We will find out.”