TORONTO – Naz Reid played through a re-aggravation a foot injury Friday night against Dallas.
Anthony Edwards has battled left knee tendinopathy and only missed a handful of games because of it.
You can see Jarred Vanderbilt at times attending to a left thigh contusion that caused him to miss some games recently, while last week Karl-Anthony Towns showed up to his postgame press conference in Dallas with what seemed like a whole roll of bandages wrapped around his right arm to help heal his forearm contusion.
As the season winds down, the Timberwolves are still chasing the No. 6 seed to avoid the play-in tournament. NBA players will tell you nobody is ever 100% physically as the season goes along, and the Wolves are living up to that mantra, with players fighting through pain and injury to help in the playoff chase.
"It's just that time of the year," Vanderbilt said. "I feel like everybody's banged up. Seventy-plus games in, everybody on every team probably has something that's nagging. But it's the time of year that's close to the finish line. Just try to push through and do proper treatment and prepare the right way and take care of my body in the process."
At this time of the year though, the Wolves may have to make a calculation with some players. The postseason beckons and despite their intention to get the No. 6 seed, they remain two games back of Denver. It will still be an uphill climb to catch the Nuggets, even with a matchup on tap in Denver Friday night. These next two games against Toronto and the Nuggets could determine if the Wolves have a legitimate shot of getting to sixth.
If they fall further behind, perhaps some of the ailing Wolves can take time to rest with the play-in around the corner. Unless that happens, however, the players are pushing themselves to play.
"You want to be 100%, but it's more about being 100% mentally," Towns said. "... Just play 100% mentally though. If we can do that, we'll fix a lot of holes that physically we may not be able to do at the best of our ability."
