Tomorrow might be one of the most important last days in NBA regular season history with every team playing and 15 out of 20 seeds still up for grabs.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Two of these teams are the Phoenix Suns (48-33) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (56-28), who square off at 12:30 p.m. MST in Minnesota. Phoenix can move out of a play-in spot into the No. 6 seed, while Minnesota is in a three-way tie for first place in the Western Conference.
All 30 teams in action on Sunday ‼️
▪️ 3-way tie record-wise for the top spot in the West
▪️ NOP & PHX battle for 6th seed
▪️ 1 Game separates 8-10 seeds in West
▪️ 7 spots undetermined in the East
▪️ MIL, NYK, & CLE seek the 2 seed in East
▪️ ORL, IND, PHI & MIA have chance at… https://t.co/aqTY4gXICJ pic.twitter.com/bdElSqeh48— NBA (@NBA) April 13, 2024
The Timberwolves, who have gone 0-2 against the Suns this season, listed their two stars as questionable on the injury report, Anthony Edwards with an illness and Karl Anthony-Towns with a left meniscus tear. Towns returned to action after missing 18 straight games in Minnesota’s 109-106 victory over the Atlanta Hawks yesterday, finishing with 11 points, eight assists and five rebounds in 28 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Suns have added backup center Drew Eubanks to the report as questionable with right ankle soreness. Eubanks has appeared in 74 of the Suns’ 80 games this season and had two points and seven rebounds in the Suns’ 108-107 victory over the Sacramento Kings last night. A lot of fans have been calling for Thaddeus Young to play over Eubanks, so we might see that tomorrow.
Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) will have officially missed the entire season tomorrow, as he is listed as out once again after undergoing right meniscus surgery on Oct. 12, 2023.
The Suns can avoid the play-in with a win over the Timberwolves in their season finale Sunday and the New Orleans Pelicans losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Pelicans are one game ahead of the Suns in the No. 6 seed, but Phoenix owns the tiebreaker over them. Any other outcome and Phoenix will find itself in the seventh seed.
The No. 7 seed hosts the No. 8 seed to begin the play-in, while the No. 9 seed hosts the No. 10 seed in a separate matchup. The winner of the 7-8 game advances to the playoffs to play the No. 2 seed. The loser plays the winner of the 9-10 game, and the winner of this contest advances to the playoffs to play the No. 1 seed.
Minnesota, who is currently the No. 2 seed by way of the three-way tiebreaker, can clinch the No. 1 seed with a win and the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder both losing. The Timberwolves can also reach No. 1 with a win, Denver loss and Oklahoma City win. They own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Thunder, but not the Nuggets and place No. 2 based on the multi-team tie rules if all three teams tie.
Ideally for the Suns, they would continue their dominance over Minnesota tomorrow with a win, have the Lakes beat the Pelicans and see Denver and OKC both win. This would put the Suns in a 3 vs. 6 matchup with the Timberwolves, a team they will have fared very well against, and out of the play-in.
Complete Western Conference Playoff and Play-In scenarios for tomorrow's games ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/WQ1nLxuiIh
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 13, 2024
Buckle up for a really exciting day of hoops tomorrow.
‘Go Lakers’ Devin Booker rooting for the Suns’ biggest rival
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
