The Timberwolves and Nuggets are playing tonight at Target Center in Game 6 of their NBA Western conference best-of-seven semifinal series. Denver leads 3-2 and can end the series with a victory tonight. Star Tribune reporter Chris Hine is filing these live reports:
5:54 p.m.: Mike Conley will play despite calf injury
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said point guard Mike Conley, who missed Game 5 because of a calf injury, will play tonight. The Wolves lost their composure at times in Tuesday's game in Denver without the 17-year veteran.
Shootaround update: KAT will go despite knee bruise
Karl-Anthony Towns said he got "kneed" in the left leg by a Denver player in the first quarter of Game 5 on Tuesday in Denver, and that's why Towns went to the floor and looked to be in significant pain at the time.
The Timberwolves All-Star center played through the injury, which came in the same leg in which he had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in March, even after having a significant limp in the moments after the injury.
Coming into Game 6, with the Timberwolves' season on the line, how does Towns feel?
"I'm playing tonight, so it don't matter," Towns said after Thursday's shootaround. "Does that answer everyone's questions about my knee?"
Towns didn't feel much like discussing the injury or how it might alter the way he plays.
"I'm playing tonight. That's all that matters. I'll take care of it later," Towns said.
Towns isn't the only one who might be playing hurt entering Game 6. Point guard Mike Conley is questionable because of a right soleus strain that kept him out of Game 5. Conley was present at Wolves shootaround and with a do-or-die game he's likely to try to play.
The Wolves may have all hands on deck for an elimination game but they have to do a better job of keeping their cool, even as they are staring down the end of their season, forward Kyle Anderson said.
"Just got to stay with it. I think they're a really good team because they're able to stay calm in a lot of tough situations," Anderson said. "You see it in the Lakers series, you see it in this series against us. That's got to be our mindset, as well. That's what good teams do. They stay calm in those tough situations."