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Thunder set for big matchup in Minnesota

Apr 15, 2015 - 2:35 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Oklahoma City Thunder will fight for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference Wednesday night when the regular season concludes against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.

The Thunder need to beat the Timberwolves and have the San Antonio Spurs defeat the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans. If the Pelicans win, or the Thunder lose on Wednesday, New Orleans is postseason bound.

If both teams win, or both teams lose, the eighth seed belongs to the Pelicans by virtue of a tiebreaker.

"We just have to focus on winning the game," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "It's a one-game season for us. We have to go up to Minnesota and beat them. We have to play for 48 minutes and we can't worry about what is happening in New Orleans."

The Thunder won two of their last three and staved off elimination Monday night in a 101-90 home victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Russell Westbrook led the way with 36 points and 11 rebounds in a game he didn't know he'd be playing in until Monday afternoon.

Westbrook scored a career-high 54 points in Sunday's road loss to the Indiana Pacers, but the guard received his 16th technical foul of the season. The NBA, however, rescinded the technical foul earlier Monday, enabling him to play against Portland.

Enes Kanter added 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder.

The Thunder haven't missed the playoffs since the 2008-09 season, their first in Oklahoma City. It's understandable for OKC to be in this position considering reigning MVP Kevin Durant played only 27 games with a foot injury.

The Timberwolves have something to play for, in a sense. They own the worst record in the league, but the New York Knicks are a game behind. If Minnesota won on Wednesday, and the Knicks prevailed at home versus the Detroit Pistons, there would be a blind drawing at the Board of Governors meeting to determine which team gets extra ping-pong balls and draft positioning should either team miss the top-three picks.

The T-wolves have dropped 11 straight and seven in a row as the host.

On Monday, the Timberwolves fell to the Pelicans, 100-88, at the Target Center.

Zach LaVine and Chase Budinger led the way with 24 and 18 points, respectively.

A tight first quarter was highlighted by Andrew Wiggins' thunderous dunk over Omer Asik.

"In the last month, he's probably had more highlight dunks than we've had in the last five years combined," Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders said of his rookie phenom.

Wiggins is a favorite for Rookie of the Year honors.

The Thunder have won six straight against the Timberwolves and sport a 20-3 record in the matchup since early 2009. The T-wolves have won three of the last five in Minnesota.