The Timberwolves are back in the playoffs for the 1st time since 2004

The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves played the biggest game of their respective years in the season finale against one another on Wednesday night. The implications were simple: Winner makes the playoffs, loser goes home.

The Timberwolves are not going home.

Minnesota needed five extra minutes but was able to dispatch Denver, 110-106, in overtime to secure its first playoff appearance since Kevin Garnett took them to the conference finals in 2004. The victory put a cap on a season with incredible expectations that came crashing back to reality after Jimmy Butler’s midseason torn meniscus.

During the broadcast, the commentators relayed a message from Butler from Tuesday’s Wolves practice. “This is why you play the game,” he said. “For games like these.”

That’s exactly what the Timberwolves missed while he was out. Butler has only been back for three games since that meniscus injury, but he looked like the All-Star Minnesota needed all along. He scored 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting to go with five rebounds and five assists. His performance supported Karl-Anthony Towns’s 26-point, 14-rebound performance. It was also enough to stave off the opposition.

Nikola Jokic was nothing short of spectacular. He finished with 35 points on 14-of-25 shooting. At one point, he hit a contested stepback three, then dribbled back up-court on the next possession to hit another triple. The Nuggets aren’t making the playoffs, but the sentiment among fans is if they trust in The Joker, things will be fine moving forward.

Will Barton and Jamal Murray also combined for 44 points on the night. In the end, it wasn’t enough to stop Minnesota.

The Timberwolves have secured the No. 8 seed in the West and are advancing to the playoffs to see the top-ranked Houston Rockets in the first round. The Rockets are the scariest team in the league, but Minnesota is here for the challenge.

Here’s how they got by Denver in Game 82.

Karl-Anthony Towns got hot, and so did Will Barton. So at the end of one quarter, this one is still close. If Mason Plumlee isn’t going to be able to stop Towns, the Nuggets might not want him in the game for too long a period of time.

4:50 — Karl-Anthony Towns is cooking the Nuggets early, shooting three-of-five from the field. The Wolves just went back to him as I type this. Now he’s 4-of-6 for eight early points. Towns is eating Mason Plumlee for dinner. If he can’t check him, the Nuggets will have to find a different answer.

5:09 — How did Will Barton just do this?

Minnesota extended its lead as big as 10 and enters the second half with an eight-point lead. After Karl-Anthony Towns went off in the first quarter, Denver still had no answer for him in the second. He had 16 points and five rebounds on 80 percent shooting in the first half.

The Wolves were also able to hit six threes in the first half, but most of their points came the old fashioned way: attacking the rim to create shots.

Denver has stayed in arm’s distance thanks to Will Barton, who came off the bench to give the Nuggets 16 points. But aside from he and Nikola Jokic, Denver is scrounging for answers to match the Wolves. The Nuggets will need to find those answers if they want a shot at the playoffs by winning this game.

6:51 — Timeout Nuggets!

Denver can’t stop Karl-Anthony Towns, who is running and dunking all over the Nuggets for 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting in only 13 minutes of play. Jimmy Butler has eight, Taj Gibson and Andrew Wiggins each have six, and Jeff Teague has four assists,

Minnesota’s run up a seven-point lead, and if Denver doesn’t get a handle on this game on the road, this one can get out of control in a hurry.

7:15 — ANOTHER ONE

10:40 — KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS IS A GROWN MAN

The third quarter went almost exactly like the first two: Nikola Jokic (30 points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (22 points) have been scrapping it out. Will Barton has been cooking for the Nuggets, but Minnesota’s other stars — Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler — have been a lot for Denver to handle.

This is it, folks. One more quarter to determine who will get the final slot in the West playoffs. This one’s gonna be wild, and that’s probably an understatement.

0:20 — Towns just grabbed his 10th rebound, giving him 68 double-doubles on the season. It’s more than anyone else in the league. My goodness.

1:21 — That escalated quickly. Jokic now has 30 points, including 17 — SEVENTEEN — in the third quarter alone. Nobody can stop this man.

Welp

WHO CARES WHAT TIME — Nikola Jokic just hit a contested stepback three, then came up court and hit another triple. The video will come when the Nuggets post it. But for now, just know:

(Of course they don’t tweet the stepback.)

6:40 — Denver has cut Minnesota’s lead down to just one! And you know people don’t like tweeting when they’re losing. Look who came out of the woodworks.

8:30 — The Nuggets should probably protect the ball. They just turned the ball over three straight times, and if the Wolves didn’t throw it away on that last turnover, Mike Malone would have been fuming during a timeout.

We’re going to overtime. No team scored in the final 1:59 of the fourth quarter. The Nuggets trailed by as many as seven but surged back midway through the period. Five more minutes on the clock. With playoff implications, it’s only right his one goes to OT.

1.6 seconds — TAJ GIBSON WITH THE HUGE STEAL! WOLVES BALL

3.8 seconds — 101-101, Nuggets ball. The clock has just been changed to 4.4 seconds. This one’s going to Jokic or Barton.

2:00 — JAMAL MURRAY IS A SUPERHERO OH MY GOD

2:51 -- Jamal Murray did it again! He hit Taj Gibson with ANOTHER stepback, this time for 3. Tie game. 99-99. Oh boy.

3:27 — Jamal Murray just hit Taj Gibson with a diiiiiiiirtyyyy stepback. Like haven’t washed your jeans in six weeks dirty. Lord have mercy.

4:12 — Jokic now has 35. Fam what does he eat for dinner?

7:00 — The commentators said at practice yesterday, Jimmy Butler said “This is why you play the game. For games like these.” Butler is here to stay. He’s got 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, and his basket just put the Wolves up seven.

8:10 — OK, I’ve come to a conclusion. Karl-Anthony Towns and Nikola Jokic just can’t guard one another. Jokic’s feet just aren’t quick enough to stay in front of Towns, but he’s so damn skilled off the dribble and on the low block that it doesn’t matter. OK, I’m done here.

3:12 — Nuggets take the lead for the first time since 19-18 in the first quarter. 104-103, Denver.

That lead didn’t last.