Preview of game no. 82 – Timberwolves vs. Pelicans

Minnesota Timberwolves vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Date: April 12, 2026
Time: 7:30pm CDT
Position: Target center
Television coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio coverage: KFAN FM, Lupi App, iHeart Radio

There’s something about Race 82 that’s always a little reminiscent of the last day of school. Half the class is mentally controlled. The teacher is rolling in the TV cart. And yet, somehow, it still matters, just not in the way you thought it would in October.

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That’s where the Minnesota Timberwolves find themselves headed to the regular season finale against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Eighty-one games less. One to go. Perforated playoff ticket.

And yet… it doesn’t really feel like a celebration.

Because if you’ve been watching this team all season, you know the story. This was not a climb. It was a drift. A strange, erratic, sometimes brilliant, sometimes maddening drift in which the Wolves spent long periods resembling a team that had already been to back-to-back Western Conference finals and decided, consciously or not, that the regular season was more of a formality than a test.

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They had nights where they looked like a top-three team in basketball. Nights went by where it seemed like they forgot that the game started at 7:00. And when you zoom out, that’s how you end up here, not in a dire position, but not in one that Know he was there for the taking.

Let’s be honest. This team could easily be sitting in the three seeds right now. Reverse two or three of these late-game collapses. Close a couple of those “how did we lose him?” questions. nights. Show up urgently on a random Tuesday in January. Suddenly, we’re talking about a completely different bracket.

But here’s the twist: It’s not even clear whether the three seeds would have been better.

The irony of the ranking that no one expected

If the Wolves had climbed into that third spot, they would likely be staring at a first-round matchup with the Houston Rockets, a team that has turned every Wolves game into a knife-throwing fight this season.

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Winnable? Safe.

Comfortable? Not even a little.

Instead, sitting at six, Minnesota is waiting for the outcome of one last domino:

• If San Antonio decides to send Denver to the opposite side of the bracket and the Lakers beat the Tanking Jazz, the Wolves win the prize of a lame, stoned version of Los Angeles. It’s the kind of encounter that feels like finding a $20 bill in your winter coat.

• If things go differently, get the Nikola Jokic Experience. Intimidating? Safe. But also a mountain that this Wolves team has already conquered.

As we sit here awaiting the final planting, neither outcome feels like a death sentence. That alone tells you how far this franchise has come. Because for much of its history, “playoff matchup” was just a polite way of saying “scheduled elimination.”

Now? There is a real, tangible belief that this team, when engaged and playing at its best, can beat anyone in a seven-game series.

Match 82

This brings us to Sunday night against New Orleans, where we will almost certainly see a Wolves lineup that looks more like a preseason scrimmage than a playoff dress rehearsal.

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No Rudy Gobert, because risking a clear foul disqualification (or any injury, frankly) in a meaningless game would be negligent. Probably limited (or not) Julius Randle, because his workload has been heavy and his importance is too high. Maybe a cautious recovery for Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, not to win this game, but to find their rhythm again.

And lots of Kyle Anderson shooting the ball on the floor while Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark and Joan Beringer try to turn it into their own audition tape. Which, honestly, might be the coolest part of the night.

The keys to the game

1. Don’t be heroes: be healthy

This is the simplest key to write and the most important to follow.

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Nothing, and I mean nothing, that happens in this game is worth risking your core health. No prolonged minutes. No unnecessary contact. No “let’s just see what it looks like”.

It’s no longer a question of pace. It’s about conservation.

Because if the Wolves enter the first round at full strength, they have a chance to hit anyone. What if they don’t? None of this matters.

2. Give Shannon Jr. the full runway

If there’s one subplot that’s quietly emerged in these last two games, it’s the experience of Terrence Shannon Jr.. After wasting time early and struggling to carve out a consistent role, Shannon has started to show exactly the thing that got people excited in the first place: that downhill, attack-mode energy.

If the coaching staff is going to treat this thing like a hybrid scrimmage, then lean into it. Let Shannon cook. Let him make mistakes. Let him handle the ball, attack the basket, make shots he normally couldn’t get. Because the only way to find out if someone can contribute in a playoff moment is to give them real, meaningful reps early.

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Right now, Shannon seems like a guy who might be onto something.

3. Keep defensive habits intact

Even with a patchwork education, identity cannot disappear. This team, at its best, wins with defense. Rotations. Communication. Physicality. Those habits don’t magically reappear because the playoffs begin. They are built, or maintained, in games like this. So, even if the personnel changes, the principles do not.

4. Stay connected offensively

This is where things can go wrong in these types of games. Put pressure on the young guys. Players on the bench looking for shots. The crime is divided into five separate agendas. Just because this game has no standings implications doesn’t mean the coaching staff should allow the offense to be moved. Ball movement still matters. Distancing still matters. Playing Together still matters.

5. End on a note that feels like momentum

No banners are raised for beating the Pelicans in Game 82.

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But trust matters.

And after a period where things seemed to be wobbly, these last two games have quietly started to stabilize things. The loss to Orlando still had positives for players like Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and TSJ. Beating Houston short-handed and taking the season series away from at least one Western Conference contender had some psychological weight.

You don’t want to get to the playoffs feeling like you’re searching. You want to go in feeling like you’ve found something.

Even if it’s small.

It’s always about what comes next

Eighty-two games later, here’s the truth: This season would never have been judged by what happened in January. Or February. Or even this week.

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It always depended on what would happen next.

The Wolves took the long road to get here, a road filled with flashes of brilliance, moments of frustration and enough inconsistency to make you wonder what this team Truly AND.

Now let’s find out.

Because the regular season, for all its noise and unpredictability and guesswork, is just prologue. The real story begins next week.

For two consecutive years, this team left the field in May, one step away from competing for a championship. When you don’t get results like that, there’s only one thing that matters: getting back there and showing that you belong when you do.

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The last 82 games have been the necessary grind these Timberwolves have endured to earn a spot to compete.

Now comes the part where you justify it.

This is where possessions become heavier. Where every error persists a little longer. Where the margin for error shrinks and the truth about your team, not the version you sell yourself in November, not the one that shows up for an ordinary Tuesday in February, but the real version, the one that can survive four rounds of playoff basketball, finally reveals itself.

This is where stars become superstars, or not. Where role players carve out their place in a series or fade into the background. Where habits, good and bad, stop being trends and start being results.

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And for Minnesota, this is where all the contradictions of this season must be reconciled.

The nights when they looked like a defensive juggernaut.
The nights they couldn’t get off each other.
The moments when they imposed their will.
The sections where they let go of the rope.

Everything comes to a head now.

Because the luxury of inconsistency is over. The ability to “figure it out later” has expired. There is no later.

There’s only this.

Four rounds. Sixteen victories. No shortcuts.

And somewhere in there, the answer to the one question that has always mattered: These Timberwolves are a really good team…

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Or are they finally ready to be something more?