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The San Antonio Spurs “home stretch” of the Rodeo Road Trip in Austin kicked off with a bang. The Spurs secured a 121-94 victory over the Phoenix Suns. The Spurs were locked in defensively while playing an even offensive game. Six members of the Silver and Black scored in double digits, and 30 of San Antonio’s baskets came off assists.

Stephon Castle led the team in scoring with 20 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Castle shot an efficient 8-11 from the field and 2-4 from deep. He scored at all-three levels, getting shots to go around the rim, in the mid-range, and hitting some big threes. Castle has turned it on over the last month, heating up as the Spurs head into the stretch run of the season.

The Area 51 duo was in action on Thursday night. Castle does a great job probing the defense until the defense ignores Victor Wembanyama (a mistake) and then finds him on the lob. Castle is probably the best on the team in finding the big man for lobs, which makes sense given the nickname.

Wembanyama showed why he is considered the favorite for Defensive Player of the Year. Wemby was dominant defensively, altering shot after shot in the paint. He finished the game with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocks.

Wembanyama’s best play of the night came in the pick-and-roll when he slammed the ball over Mark Williams and Jordan Goodwin. Williams had been playing physically and trying to dunk on him all night, and Wembanyama punished him on the other end with a towering slam.

He wasn’t the only Spurs center with highlight reel dunks, though. Luke Kornet was all over the rim against the Suns. He had 10 points and 9 rebounds on a perfect 5-5 shooting from the field. He was a beast on the boards, grabbing three offensive rebounds. He’s been a much better lob threat than expected this season, thanks to his great hands and elite positioning in the paint.

Kornet had the play of the game with this monster slam off the offensive board. There is nothing more satisfying than a one-handed put-back dunk.

The rookies had their moments, too. Dylan Harper had 17 points off the bench, hitting 2 three-pointers. He, like Castle, scored at all three levels, which has been rare for him early in his career. Carter Bryant also hit two three-pointers, including a smooth-looking side-step jumper late in the fourth quarter.

San Antonio will play the Sacramento Kings in the last game of their Austin home-stand on Saturday night as they look to secure their 40th victory. Check out the video below for full game highlights.

Last offseason’s trade between the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets, that saw Kevin Durant get dealt to Houston, in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, five second-round draft picks and the 10th pick of the 2025 NBA Draft has been a franchise saver, of sorts, for the Rockets. 

Especially when considering the mountain of injuries Houston has seen. Fred VanVleet was out before the season even started.

Steven Adams is out for the season.

(And hasn’t suited up in a month).

Tari Eason has missed over 20 games (well, 22, to be exact).

And Houston’s prized free agent signing, Dorian Finney-Smith, has missed 33 games (and hasn’t looked good, although we’ve seen positive signs, of late ).

Yet and still, the Rockets have their same record at this point in the season as last year. Despite being without three of last year’s starters.

According to Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein, the Rockets’ brass tried making the deal for Durant at last year’s deadline, albeit with the inclusion of Jabari Smith Jr. instead of Dillon Brooks. 

“The deal was never gonna get done without Jalen and Dillon in the deal.”

Bartelstein claims the Suns wanted Brooks, to help set their culture.

Houston’s brass has denied being willing to part with Smith.

But make no mistake. They surely would’ve included him, if it came down to it.

Not many players on last year’s roster should’ve been deemed untouchable, especially with Kevin Durant on the table as an acquireable piece.

Even an older version.

We should expect the Rockets to deny their willingness to move Smith.

In the same way that it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Suns are now hyping up their guy in Brooks.

It’s a bit less believable that Brooks was a sticking point for the Suns.

It’s not like it could’ve been predicted that he was going to average a career-best 21 points (albeit on 18 shots).

It should also be noted that Phoenix couldn’t have moved Durant for Green and Smith at the deadline, from a salary standpoint, as Smith was still on his rookie salary.

But again, this shouldn’t be surprising. 

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The Miami Heat begin their second half on the road this evening against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena. Tip-off for this contest is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. 

Jalen Johnson has been a beast this season, and I’m targeting him to ball out in my Heat vs. Hawks predictions. 

Read more in my NBA picks for Friday, February 20.

Heat vs Hawks prediction

Heat vs Hawks best bet: Jalen Johnson Over 22.5 points (-120)

Jalen Johnson has burst onto the scene this season, averaging 23.5 ppg. Before he partook in the All-Star festivities in Los Angeles, the Duke product cashed the Over in points in two of his final four games in the first half. 

He also returned with a bang on Thursday, as the Atlanta Hawks hammered the 76ers. Johnson showed out for 32 points. 

Johnson is averaging 26.5 ppg across two meetings with the Miami Heat in 2025-26, so he knows how to beat this team.

Heat vs Hawks same-game parlay

Tyler Herro is having a nice campaign, averaging 21.9 ppg. He’s hit the Over in points in four straight games. 

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is averaging a respectable 3.7 assists per game. He’ll be important in getting Johnson more scoring opportunities tonight. 

The Canadian guard has cashed the Over in dimes in seven straight. 

Heat vs Hawks SGP

• Jalen Johnson Over 22.5 points
• Tyler Herro Over 17.5 points
• Nickeil Alexander-Walker Over 3.5 assists

Our "from downtown" SGP: Home cooking for Hawks 

Atlanta is coming off a big win over the Sixers, and this new-look roster is promising. They also beat the Heat on February 3. 

Heat vs Hawks SGP

• Jalen Johnson Over 22.5 points
• Tyler Herro Over 17.5 points
• Nickeil Alexander-Walker Over 3.5 assists
• Hawks moneyline

Heat vs Hawks odds

• Spread: Heat -3.5 | Hawks +3.5
• Moneyline: Heat -155 | Hawks +130
• Over/Under: Over 244.5 | Under 244.5

Heat vs Hawks betting trend to know

The Hawks have hit the 1H Moneyline in 13 of their last 24 games (+7.05 Units / 23% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Heat vs. Hawks.

How to watch Heat vs Hawks

Heat vs Hawks latest injuries

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#1 – Jaylen Brown driving the Celtics offense

With almost 19 drives per game, Brown is the second most prolific driver in the NBA this season – and last night might have been one of his most impressive games in the paint.

As the mid-ranges and 3-pointers wouldn’t fall, JB shifted his approach toward the rim and kept attacking it, with 10 field goals made in the paint. His craftiness was on full display, like here, where he crossed and attacked the space with just the right timing.

The Warriors tried to force him left and put bodies in the paint to slow down the five-time All-Star, but it didn’t work. The game felt easy for Brown, with very efficient footwork like here. He gathered the ball right before Draymond Green’s stunt, put his foot right between the two defenders while carrying the ball high to avoid their arms, and finished it with a nice touch.

With Nikola Vucevic on the court, the space to attack was even bigger, and Brown made the most of it to punish the Warriors’ aggressive defense.

Overall, 9 of his 10 field goals made came after a drive, showing how aggressive Jaylen Brown was after the All-Star break.

#2 – Celtics flare for space

The Warriors’ defensive coverage didn’t work against Brown’s drives but also collapsed due to the Celtics’ shooting ability and screening strategy. Green was asked to remain in the driving lane and leave Neemias Queta alone because the Portuguese big man is not a shooting threat – however, Queta can screen, and he screens pretty well.

In this play below, the Celtics had just crossed half court and already created an open shot for Sam Hauser thanks to a screen that punished Green’s positioning. The former DPOY wanted to block the drive and leave Queta open. The Celtics big man therefore set a flare screen and created space for Hauser to shoot. As Green was too far to help his teammate who was stuck in the screen, that was money for Sammy!

The Warriors still kept the same approach with Al Horford or Kristaps Porzingis, keeping them near the paint as much as possible, so the Celtics kept attacking that coverage. Even with Vucevic on the court, the Warriors’ big men remained low, and it opened things up for Boston.

Yet, while Vucevic and Queta set the same off-ball screens, they are quite different players. Boston’s pick-and-roll offense changed depending on who was on the court and showed real versatility.

#3 – Pick-and-roll with Queta

As Neemias Queta was starting the game, Boston made sure to use his screening skills to create space on the first possession. The big man set a screen on the ball for Derrick White, which triggered Draymond Green’s rotation toward him to prevent the pull-up. This forced the rest of the Warriors to compensate in the paint to protect the rim, but it was already too late, and Queta earned free throws.

The Warriors kept sending two players to the ball, hoping White would struggle under the pressure, but the Celtics guard didn’t. And as the Celtics’ spacing made the rotations more difficult, it left the paint open for Queta.

The Celtics even added a little twist to the pick-and-roll, with White acting as a second screener who slipped the action and cut to the rim behind the defense that wanted to pressure the ball. Safe to say the Celtics came prepared to punish the Warriors’ defensive coverage.

And while this worked well with Queta, the Celtics were also very efficient with Vucevic on the court.

#4 – Pick-and-roll with Vucevic

The former Bull is a different pick-and-roll player than Queta, offering a new variety of movement and spacing. After a screen, he rolls a little less deep than the Portuguese big man and has more passing flair. This one ended up as a turnover, but you can clearly see the great read from Vuc.

The difference with Queta in how he moves after the screen can also create pick-and-pop situations that put pressure on the defense in drop coverage. This play was really impressive to me, as he caught the ball beyond the three-point line and immediately drove to put even more pressure on the defense. The big standout of this action is the skip pass that created an even better situation. A great flash from the big man.

The Celtics’ ability to play a very different style depending on their centers is a great addition and could go a long way in a playoff run. And speaking of centers…

#5 – Porzingis’ trap

What is super insightful about a player facing his former team is that it gives us insight into what the former coaching staff really thought of him. And apparently, the Celtics didn’t have a lot of belief in Porzingis’ passing under pressure.

It also shows that the Celtics were wary of Porzingis’ post-up scoring and were willing to take that risk rather than let him attack one-on-one. The Celtics rarely put this much pressure on the ball against a single player and usually prefer to defend the matchup despite some occasional mismatches.

#6 – Boston cutting hedge

Back to the Celtics’ offense, which was really impressive last night. As far as I can remember, I can’t find another game this season where the players had this willingness to cut again and again. Here, for example, the defense focused on the ball with the Pritchard screen, but the important move came from Hauser, who cut from one corner to the other, catching the defense’s attention and creating space for Vucevic to shoot in the corner.

Why did they cut more than usual, you might think? This is related to the Warriors’ aggressive coverage on the ball. With this approach, defenders need to be ready to help, especially on the strong side. Therefore, a cut, like this one from Hugo Gonzalez, is perfect to punish that coverage.

This next play might be one of my favorites. A zoom action with not one but two screens prior to the handoff. As Jaylen Brown ran, Hauser popped beyond the line and White slipped the screen while the defense focused on the handoff with Queta… and that was a trap!

It was all very fun… until the Warriors suffocated the Celtics.

#7 – Warriors pressure

Despite losing by 30 points, the Warriors didn’t give up and kept fighting. They took advantage of the Celtics’ laid-back approach in the fourth quarter to steal the ball over and over and get back into the game.

The Celtics tried to play slowly at first. They ran the clock down to save time, but the Warriors were happy with these bad shots. And every time they were able to score in transition, they put a lot of pressure on the ball and the passing lanes. The defense was so good they even forced a very rare travel from Payton Pritchard.

Yet, it was Pritchard who put the game away a few minutes later.

#8 – Pritchard broke the shell

To break a shell, you need a tool adapted to create a breach. The Warriors’ shell, which was suffocating the Celtics by putting heavy pressure on the ball, had a kryptonite: Payton Pritchard’s deep shooting ability.

The Celtics put Jaylen Brown back into the game so he could hold the ball while attracting two defenders. Then, they made sure Pritchard was one pass away so, as soon as the Warriors trapped Brown, the Celtics could punish them from 35 feet.

Not once but twice, the Celtics used that trick and put the game away.

#9 – Jaylen Brown sixth triple double in career

The beautiful collective performance could make us forget that Jaylen Brown recorded his third triple-double of the season, and the sixth of his career. He is now tied with Dave Cowens, who recorded six triple-doubles in 726 games. The next player on the list is Paul Pierce with nine – could JB catch up with PP before the end of the season?

#10 – Healthy KP and mysterious Horford

The vibes were good with Kristaps Porzingis and the Celtics.

It was nice to see him healthy and on the court after months of ups and downs for the Latvian big man. On the other hand, Al Horford’s words after the game raised more questions about his departure, and I’m looking forward to finding out what really happened.

Nonetheless, this video from Noa at the end of the game showed that, mostly, it’s all love.

It had been 279 days since Kristaps Porziņģis last shared the floor with the Celtics, as either a teammate or an opponent. The final farewell was bitter.

Porziņģis last suited up alongside his former Boston teammates in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. A lingering illness that followed him out of the regular season stretched on for more than three months, reducing him to a limited version of himself. Fast forward 40 weeks and two trades later, and Porziņģis finally shared the floor with Boston again — this time as a member of the Warriors — facing the team he helped raise a banner with two years ago.

“It was definitely fun,” Payton Pritchard told reporters, per CLNS Media. “I was looking forward to it. It’s always fun playing against ex-teammates and going to battle with them.”

Golden State acquired Porziņģis before the Feb. 5 trade deadline, sending Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Hawks in exchange. Like his time in Boston, injuries limited Porziņģis’ impact in Atlanta. He played just 17 games due to left Achilles tendinitis, which also kept him out of a potential return to TD Garden on Jan. 28 against the Celtics. So instead, the reunion came in Porziņģis’ Golden State debut on Thursday night, with Boston coming away with a 121-110 win.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr played Porziņģis on limited minutes, giving him 17 off the bench.

In the second quarter, Porziņģis recorded his first basket in a Warriors uniform by flushing a two-handed dunk during a mismatch with Derrick White, which helped get him going. Nearly 12 minutes later, he attacked another mismatch, going after a rebound against Pritchard, who he towers over by more than a foot. The two wrestled back and forth for possession like brothers before smiling and setting up a lopsided jump ball between 6-foot-1 Pritchard and 7-foot-2 Porziņģis.

Porziņģis, unsurprisingly, came away with the win.

“I’m disappointed in myself for letting that go,” Pritchard told reporters. “Next time, I’m not doing that.”

It didn’t take much for Porziņģis to outmatch Pritchard, but trailing his old team by 33 points put a little extra pep in his step in that moment. Ripping the ball away from Pritchard quickly became the only thing that mattered, Porziņģis recalled.

“I was not going to let go of that ball,” he told reporters, per team-provided video. “We were down big, so I was already not in the best mood. But it was a cool moment with my old teammate, and that’s it. Just playful.”

The motivation of facing his former teammates paid off for Porziņģis. Slowly throughout the night, the same player who thrived in a Celtics uniform began doing everything that made him a fan favorite in Boston — now in Golden State: attacking mismatches, draining 3-pointers, including one from 30 feet, and remaining competitive during each play. It also helped that Porziņģis reunited with fellow 2024 Celtics champion Al Horford, who assisted him in his first Warriors basket.

Horford spent seven seasons with the Celtics across two stints, while Porziņģis lasted two years. Both veteran centers remain beloved in Boston, by fans and by those of the current Celtics alike.

“I played with those guys, against those guys, and I practiced with those guys for a long time,” Jaylen Brown told reporters, per CLNS Media. “I always wish them well. I hope their families are doing good.”

Porziņģis scored 12 points in his first game since Jan. 7, part of an ongoing acclimation with a Warriors team in need of frontcourt assistance.

“I think this is a first step to keep building,” Porziņģis told reporters.

From afar, Porziņģis had been keeping tabs on the Celtics. Boston’s annual trip to Golden State gave him a first-hand look at the team’s retooled roster that lost much of its championship talent — including himself — yet has managed to excel as the No. 2 seed in the East, even without Jayson Tatum.

“You have to give credit to Joe and the coaching staff,” he told reporters. “Joe’s a great coach and a great leader. For this team to maintain the same culture — and probably be even hungrier with less talent — you have to give credit to that. And JB is playing at a super-high level, leading them. They’re a good team, even without JT and some of us who were there.”

Losing Porziņģis and Horford — their most-rotated centers last season — was just the start. Tatum’s Achilles injury in Game 4 against New York, combined with the need to rely on a mix of inexperienced and new players, put the Celtics in a tough spot from the jump. Yet judging by their 55-game sample size that has made Brown an MVP candidate, Mazzulla a frontrunner for Coach of the Year, and Boston a legitimate contender for the No. 1 seed, it’s likely Porziņģis shares a sentiment similar to most across the league.

“I knew they were going to be good, and this is probably a little bit better than I expected,” Porziņģis told reporters. “So hats off to them.”

After an abysmal start to the NBA season defensively, the Lakers turned a corner on that end of the floor over the last month, and they’re confident the reasoning behind the turnaround can help lead to further success. 

With respect to their roster construction, the Lakers’ defense wasn’t expected to be a top-tier unit entering the season. But they started off even worse than anticipated. 

The Lakers’ defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 117.9 through their first 40 games ranked 26th — a bad sign for their chances of contending for an NBA title. 

They rebounded the ball well defensively, didn’t foul a lot and forced turnovers at a decent rate in the first half of the season.

But they were one of the league’s worst teams at protecting the rim and limited 3-pointers. And in addition to their troublesome transition defense, they were giving up points in some of the worst ways.

Thanks to their zone defense, the Lakers have made improvements, helping them have an above-average defense (112.7 defensive rating, which ranks 13th) in their 14 games leading into the All-Star break.

And for a Lakers team that’s expected to be led by its offense, above average should be more than good enough.

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“It just gives us a different look,” Austin Reaves said Thursday of the team’s zone defense. “And an opportunity to kind of mix it up and fly around and get our defense started that way.”

During a pregame segment ahead of the Lakers’ home win over the Mavericks on Feb. 12, the “NBA on Prime” studio show highlighted the Lakers’ uptick in usage of zone defense.

The Lakers deployed a zone defense on a league-leading 17.6% of possessions in the 13 games leading into the matchup against the Mavericks — significantly higher than the league-most 10% of possessions the Bucks used zone defense this season through Feb. 12.  

And it’s been effective, with the Lakers allowing just 0.86 points per possession when playing zone. 

Although opponents shot similarly at the rim against the Lakers during the 14-game stretch leading into the break, the Lakers have been better at contesting 3-pointers. 

“It starts with setting our defense and just eating up some clock,” coach JJ Redick said. “We looked (Thursday) morning, we did a bunch of stuff with our analytics group, it’s not like teams are vastly underperforming from the midrange or from 3. Some of the underperformance from 3 has to do with just breaking up a little bit of the flow of the game, if that’s what you mean by throwing it for a loop. It’s been a good tool for us, and we recognize that.”

Redick reiterated that the Lakers will have to use a variety of strategies for defensive success. 

“We’re going to have to play man at points,” Redick said. “We’re going to have to play 15 at points and switch 1 through 5. We’re going to have to play some zone at points, and we’re going to have to put two on the ball at some point against certain players. With this group, it’s not going to be one thing. We’ve got to continue to be adaptable and search for the right answer in the middle of the game.”

There are many league-wide notions about what’s effective in an 82-game season vs. the playoffs, including the effectiveness of zone defense.

The Lakers are confident the strategy can be relied upon in higher-stakes postseason games.

“It’s just the way we communicate in the zone,” Reaves said. “Five guys are locked in every single possession, talking. Obviously, there’s gonna be breakdowns; nobody’s perfect. But for the most part, the communication’s high, and the effort’s high as well.”

Here we are, the home stretch of the NBA regular season.

It’s been a bumpy first two-thirds of the schedule for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They’ve had some high-hights, including a pair of wins against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, and many low-lows, most notably a five-game losing streak in January.

With the All-Star break now in the rearview and just 26 games remaining on the schedule, the Timberwolves look to finish out the season strong heading into what they hope is another successful postseason campaign.

Before that, there is still a lot to be determined and numerous questions that still need to be answered. Let’s take a look at each of those questions, how the Wolves might find answers, and what that means for the Wolves’ playoff chances come April.

Which version of Julius Randle will take the Court?

Julius Randle has an up-and-down season for the Timberwolves. On many nights, Randle has had outstanding performances where he almost single-handedly overpowers the opposing team as a matchup nightmare. There have also been games, though, where his bully-ball style isn’t working, the playmaking goes away, and his defense becomes untenable, as Randle has showcased a frustrating level of inconsistency.

In the aggreagate, Randle has had a fantastic season for the Wolves. Both his points and assists per game have both increased while seeing no meaningful dip in either shooting efficiency or turnovers.

Right before the All-Star break, Randle showcased what he is capaple as he put up 41 points, including 23 in the fourth quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers and Deni Avdija, who was selected to the All-Star game above Randle.

In the first two rounds of the 2025 Playoffs, Randle played his best stretch of basketball in a Timberwolves uniform, putting up 23.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game as the Wolves won both series in five games.

Then, in the Western Conference Finals, the inconsistency showed back up. While he did score 20+ points in three of the five games, Randle scored just six points in Game 2 and five points in Game 4, both losses for Minnesota.

If the Wolves want to get back to the Western Conference Finals or beyond, they will need the version of Randle they saw in the game against Portland and in the first two rounds of last year’s playoffs. They will need the player who made Draymond Green, of all people, admit he got outplayed.

If Minnesota gets the opposite version, the one that often gets beaten back door on defense, provides little ball movement on offense, and has an overall moodiness to his games, then the season will likely end sooner than anyone wants.

Can the Timberwolves flip the switch?

For much of this season, the Timberwolves have played like a team that knows they can turn up the intensity when its required. When they put their mind to it, the Wolves can beat anybody. When they don’t, though, they can lose to anybody.

There are very clearly two different Timberwolves teams, one that takes the other team seriously and one that does not. It has led to the Wolves having incredibly varied performances from night to night and, despite being one of the healthiest teams in the NBA, sitting at sixth in the Western Conference.

While there are many reasons for the varied level of intensity from the Wolves, one of the biggest reasons is their franchise superstar, Anthony Edwards. Similar to Ranlde, the inconsistency of Edwards, seemingly dictated by the level of the opponent, has become maddening.

While Edwards is having by far his best season on the offensive end of the floor, the defensive end has been another story. There have been numerous games where Ant has felt totally disconnected from the Wolves’ game plan on the defensive end of the floor, leading to consistent open shots for the other team.

“He has the capacity to be the best two-way player in the league,” Timberwolves Head Coach Chris Finch said recently of Edwards. “Really, when he’s playing that way, we’re a whole other team defensively. So he’s really got to lean in and lead us that way.”

While Edwards is not the only player relying on “flipping the switch” come the playoffs, as Finch noted, the fix to that type of thinking needs to come from the team’s best player, as when Ant does lock in on defense, he becomes one of the best on-ball defenders in the entire league.

With the Wolves making the last two Western Conference Finals, they have a level of playoff success that is undeniable, but if they want to be better than either of those teams that lost in five games, Ant and the rest of the team will need to find far more consistency in their level of play.

How much value will Ayo Dosumnu provide?

Since the departure of Nickeil Alexander-Walker last offseason, the Wolves have been desperate to replace his role and production. With Mike Conley’s game dropping off, Terrence Shannon Jr. dealing with nagging injuries, and Rob Dillingham failing to crack the rotation, the Wolves have felt a player short the entire season.

At the trade deadline, they seemed to have solved that issue, as the Timberwolves traded for Ayo Dosunmu, who has provided a scoring punch off the bench that Minnesota has craved all season. Dosunmu scored in double figures in each of his three games with the Wolves, including a 21-point performance against the Atlanta Hawks.

Dosumnu’s skills that are most needed on this Timberwolves roster are his ability to attack the paint with his drives and his willingness to push the ball in transition, often doing both on the same possession.

Even just a few games into his time in Minnesota, it has become clear just how good a fit Dosunmu is with this Wolves team. After an All-Star break to recover from the turbulent trade deadline and some practice time to integrate himself with his new team, Ayo is ready to his the ground running when the Wolves’ season resumes.

“This last three to five days helped me a lot,” Dosumnu said of the All-Star Break. “The coaches, I asked them to send me the playbook, send me the most frequent actions we run, defensive schemes, things of that nature, and I’ve just been watching it, and I’m getting very much more familiar with it. I’m getting comfortable with it, where I’m able to call sets out. So that’s been great, and I think these pasts, I’m blessed to have these past five days to be able to do that.”

While Dosunmu and Alexander-Walker are stylistically very different players, Ayo seems like the perfect fit to fill the hole left by NAW on the Wolves roster. Dosumnu can put the ball in the basket, something the Wolves bench desperately lacks, especially on nights when Naz Reid struggles, and does so without taking up too much of the offensive bandwidth.

The rest of this regular season for Ayo will be about getting up to speed and finding his role with his new team. If his first few days in the organization are any indication, he will be just fine.

What will the rotation look like with the return of Mike Conley?

It has been a whirlwind past couple of weeks for Mike Conley. Before the trade deadline, he got traded from the Wolves to the Chicago Bulls, who traded him to the Charlotte Hornets, who bought out his contract allowing the 19-year NBA veteran to return to Minnesota.

With Conley back on the roster, the question now is, how much will he play? Before getting traded, Conley was averaging 18.5 minutes per game, but with Dosunmu added to the roster, Bones Hyland joining the rotation in the past month, and Terrence Shannon Jr. back from injury, Mike is unlikely to see the same level of playing time post All-Star break.

“Honestly, I don’t expect to be out there playing a ton of minutes,” Conley said in his first media availability after re-signing with the Wolves. “I don’t expect to be out there 20 minutes. I expect Ayo, Bones, and all these guys who’ve earned their time and minutes on the court to get their opportunities and do what they do. So I’m going to be ready and be prepared just for whatever role, whether it’s in rotation or spotty or whatever it is.”

While Conley likely will gladly take any minutes that may come, he seems to understand that his role within the team has changed since the trade deadline. It appears Conley is set up to be more of a break glass in case of emergency option for the Wolves. If Hyland or Shannon Jr. struggle in their playing time, Conley may be called upon to grab the eighth-man minutes.

Other than that, Conley’s role will likely be in and out of the rotation depending on what the matchup or injury report dictates, unless Finch has other plans, which is always a possibility.

Can the Timberwolves get a top-three seed?

If the playoffs were to start today, the Timberwolves would have to go through the Denver Nuggets, then likely the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, all on the road, to reach the NBA Finals. That is a gauntlet of championship-contending teams that almost every team would have difficulty advancing through.

That can and likely will change with the Timberwolves are just a game and a half back of the three-seed Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference. Just like last season, where the Wolves finished just a single game back of the third seed and only a game up on the seventh seed and the Play-In Tournament, there is again a lot of the line in March and April for the Timberwolves.

While the Wolves’ strength of opponent is high for the rest of the season, something that may not be a negative for this team, their travel schedule is incredibly nice as they have the fewest back-to-backs remaining at four, only two of which require the team traveling between games.

“We’re not afraid to go anywhere or play anybody, but obviously, you want to give yourselves the best chance. So we have that in front of us.” – Chris Finch

While the Wolves clearly feel like they can beat anyone in the Western Conference, they can make things a whole lot easier on themselves by advancing up the standings. Home court advantage in the first round is still well within their reach, and a dream scenario of forcing conference-title favorites OKC and Denver to face off again in the second round exists.

The Wovles have proven they can win multiple playoff rounds even if they are the sixth seed, but if they want to advance further than they ever have, that place in the standings will likely not be good enough.