The Minnesota Timberwolves will be playing for an opportunity to secure the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference and a first-round matchup when they square off against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. However, the status of a couple of their key contributors is up in the air.
After missing Minnesota's play-in loss to the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this week after he was suspended for a game for trying to punch teammate Kyle Anderson during the team's regular-season finale, center Rudy Gobert is listed as questionable for the contest due to back spasms. Gobert said that had he not been suspended for the game against L.A., he wouldn't have been able to play anyway because of his back.
"Still pretty sore, still not moving like I would like to be able to move, but small progress every day," Gobert said of the issue. His final status for the contest will likely be determined prior to tip time on Friday.
In addition to Gobert, Wolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is also listed as questionable against Oklahoma City with a right calf strain. With their season hanging in the balance, you have to think that both Gobert and Towns will at least try to give it a go, but we'll have to wait and see.
When it comes to the sideline scuffle between him and Anderson that resulted in a suspension for Gobert, the Frenchman said that the two players have apologized to each other and are ready to move on at this point.
"We both apologized to each other and you move on. That's life," Gobert said. "It's different when you have millions of people all watching videos and have an opinion on things that happened, but that we can't control. What we can control is the respect that we have for each other and our relationship.
"I still love Kyle. He's still my brother. I tell people, 'Sometimes you fight with your family. Sometimes you fight with people that you have a lot of love and respect for,'" Gobert added. "It's life. No one is perfect. Mistakes happen and then you grow and you move on."
After pulling off a blockbuster trade to land Gobert last offseason -- and parting with a plethora of assets in order to do so -- the Wolves have had an underwhelming season. But, they still have an opportunity to salvage it an extent and qualify for postseason play. Let's see if they're able to capitalize.
