On April 13, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs officially began, in the game between the Clippers and the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves who played at home won 109-104 against the opponent, and Edwards and Russell jointly scored 59 points. They will play the Grizzlies in the opening round as no. 7 in the West, and the two teams will meet four times during the regular season, eventually reaching a draw.
The strength of the Clippers and the Grizzlies is between Bo Zhong, and in this game of victory and defeat, both sides are doing their best, even at the expense of fouls to prevent opponents from scoring, and in the first quarter alone, both sides lost 13 fouls. Towns was even more brutally targeted in the first quarter, not only did he not score a point on 0-of-5 shooting, but he also lost two fouls.
Back in the second quarter, Towns' form still did not pick up, scoring only 2 points on 0-of-7 shooting in the first half and carrying 4 fouls. However, the Timberwolves counterattacked under the leadership of Russell and Edwards, the former scored 14 points on 5 of 5 in the quarter, the latter also scored 15 points in the first half, and the Clippers were not accurate, and the Timberwolves led by 2 points in the first half.
The confrontation between the two sides became more intense, Beverly and Morris were still entangled in a round, the two sides broke out into a physical conflict, and finally the referee determined that Beverley had a technical foul and let George hit the free throw. The ball is also a microcosm of the quarter: George scored 17 points on 5-of-8 in the quarter, and the team also came back in the quarter, entering the final quarter with a six-point advantage.
Shortly after the start of the final quarter, Mann countered a dunk in a round with Russell, and Reggie's three-point deficit widened to 10 points. Just when everyone thought that the Clippers would win steadily, Towns, Beasley, Edwards, and Russell took turns to lead the team to surpass the score. The Clippers didn't give up in the end, but Russell and Edwards stabilized the situation and helped the team get a playoff ticket. After winning, Beverly excitedly jumped onto the tech booth to celebrate wildly, enjoying the cheers of the audience.