Minnesota made the West finals for the second consecutive season, beating a Golden State team that won Game 1 of the matchup with the Timberwolves.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Timberwolves are back in the NBA’s final four, returning to the Western Conference finals — and the Oklahoma City Thunder could join them with a win on Thursday night.
And in the East, Boston — in its first game since Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon — stayed alive against New York.
The NBA playoffs started with 16 teams, and the field is now down to six. Minnesota made the West finals for the second consecutive season, beating a Golden State team that won Game 1 of the matchup with the Timberwolves — then went 0-4 in the games where Stephen Curry couldn’t play because of his strained hamstring.
Minnesota awaits the Oklahoma City-Denver winner in the West finals.
The Indiana Pacers still await their matchup for the East title as well. Boston staved off elimination by topping New York, cutting the Knicks’ lead in that series to 3-2.
The only game Thursday is the Thunder-Nuggets matchup.
Now we know — almost, anyway — the schedules for Round 3 of the NBA playoffs, the conference finals.
The West finals schedule is nearly set, with the Oklahoma City-Denver winner to have the home-court edge on Minnesota: Game 1 will be either Sunday or Tuesday, depending on whether Oklahoma City wins Thursday, and Game 2 will follow two days later.
From there: Game 3 is May 24, Game 4 is May 26, Game 5 is May 28, Game 6 is May 30 and Game 7 would be June 1.
The Boston-New York winner will have home-court advantage over Indiana in the East finals. Game 1 is Wednesday, followed by Game 2 on May 23, Game 3 on May 25, Game 4 on May 27, Game 5 on May 29, Game 6 on May 31 and a Game 7 would be June 2. All those games are 8 p.m. Eastern starts on TNT.
— Minnesota put on the best postseason 2-point shooting performance in NBA history on Wednesday night. The Timberwolves shot 76.6% on 2s, going 36 for 47 on shots from inside the arc. The previous record in that department was 75.6% by Philadelphia in a 2022 playoff win over Toronto. Julius Randle was 11 for 12, Rudy Gobert 8 for 9 and the Wolves’ reserves were a combined 7 for 8 on 2s in the series-clinching win over the Warriors.
— From 1996 through 2023, zero No. 6 seeds made the conference finals. It now has happened twice in two seasons: Indiana last year and Minnesota this year.
— The Warriors went 0-6 in their final six road games without Stephen Curry this season, losing them by an average of 15.3 points.
“We had a shot, but things didn’t go our way. But like I said, Minnesota deserves the credit. They were the better team,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.
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