#timberwolves

#timberwolves

Kevin Garnett, the Hall of Fame forward and all-time franchise leader, made a special appearance at Target Center, receiving a warm welcome from fans after eight years.

The beauty and tragedy of taking part in a great crowd pop is that you had to be there. The TV sound mixers will not do it justice, nor will that guy who filmed the whole thing on his busted iPhone.

The Magic have played 79 games, with 35 wins against the spread. The Timberwolves are 36-43-0 against the spread this season, indicating a competitive betting landscape.

The Warriors were without most of their top players. Steph Curry (knee inflammation) and Draymond Green (back) were held out after being questionable earlier in the day. Without their best players and several others the Warriors fell to the Timberwolves 108-83 while suiting up only 10 players. Gui Santos had his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Brandin Podziemski had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Edwards had already been ruled out of Tuesday night's game against the Phoenix Suns with knee soreness. The Timberwolves star has been an iron man through his six-year NBA career, having only missed a total of nine games in the three seasons prior to this one. He's averaging a career-high 29.5 points while shooting nearly 50% from the field.

Trailing 68-65, New York's star big man picked up his fourth foul during a futile afternoon in which he was forced to guard Sixers star Joel Embiid for significant stretches just 1:36 into the third quarter. While Embiid scored 38 points with 11 rebounds, Robinson's second-half introduction turned the game on its head in the Knicks' favor. The visitors immediately went on a 25-9 run in which Robinson helped hold Embiid scoreless for that entire stretch.

Tatum is scoring 19.6 points per game and has logged more than 30 minutes in each of the last four games since returning from an Achilles injury.

Entering the game, Towns had attempted 728 field goals in Brown's offense. At the same point last season? He had attempted 880. That's an average of three fewer shots a game than he averaged last season, which might go a long way toward explaining why he doesn't seem all that happy in Brown's offense. That unhappiness has reared its ugly head again and again, most recently in the Knicks' ugly loss to the Pistons on Thursday.

Mike Conley is returning to the Minnesota Timberwolves two weeks after he was traded away in a deadline move, the team announced Tuesday. The Wolves traded Conley to the Chicago Bulls in a three-team deal as a way to shed the remaining amount of the veteran point guard's $10 million salary for this season. The Bulls subsequently moved Conley to the Charlotte Hornets, who eventually waived him. Because he was traded a second time before being waived, Conley was free to sign back with Minnesota.

Free agent guard Mike Conley Jr. plans to return to the Minnesota Timberwolves, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania. The sides are working on timing of him re-signing, according to sources. Conley began the week as a member of the Wolves, but was traded to Chicago as part of a three-team trade. The Bulls quickly flipped him to Charlotte in a separate deadline move.

The 22.3 points Randle has scored per game this season is 1.2 fewer than his prop total set for Monday (23.5). He has collected 6.9 rebounds per game, 0.4 more than his prop bet for Monday's game (6.5). Randle has averaged 5.4 assists per game this year, 0.1 less than his prop bet on Monday (5.5). Randle has hit 1.6 three pointers per game, 0.1 more than his over/under in Monday's game (1.5).

Randle's 22.2 points per game average is 0.7 points more than Wednesday's over/under. He has averaged 0.5 fewer rebounds per game (seven) than his prop bet total in Wednesday's game (7.5). Randle has averaged 5.4 assists per game, 0.1 fewer than Wednesday's assist over/under (5.5). Randle has averaged 1.6 made three-pointers per game, 0.1 more than his over/under in Wednesday's game (1.5).