1. The Timberwolves beat the Clippers, 109–104, in the play-in game Tuesday night to clinch the seventh seed in the Western Conference and set up a first-round matchup against the Grizzlies.
It’s the second playoff appearance in 18 years for the Timberwolves so they went all out while celebrating the victory. Like, REALLY all out. There were tears, kisses and stripping.
Minnesota’s Patrick Beverley was particularly amped up after the win.
The over-the-top celebration caught the eyes of Twitter and the Inside the NBA crew.
In a shocking turn of events, the TNT crew was actually more critical than Twitter. While Charles, Kenny and Shaq are always up for busting chops, even the tame and amiable Ernie Johnson got in on poking fun at the Timberwolves.
“That is one festive joint up there,” said Johnson right after the game, much to the delight of his colleagues.
Shaq and Kenny Smith then started singing “We are the Champions.”
Charles Barkley shouted out, “We need ‘One Shining Moment.’”
The cast then cracked up as this tweet from the Wizards’ Kyle Kuzma appeared on screen.
Then it was back to the roasting. Johnson and Barkley started pretending the season was over.
“I wanna thank you guys for another great year,” joked Barkley.
“That was the quickest playoffs we’ve ever had,” said Johnson.
“They were kissing babies and stuff,” replied Barkley.
Of course, this turned into a debate on Twitter. One one side, we had people saying: Sports are fun. Let the Timberwolves celebrate however they want. On the other side, you had people saying it was ridiculous to celebrate a play-in game win as if it were Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
The truth is, both things can be true. Was the Timberwolves celebration over the top? Yes. Is there anything wrong with that? No.
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Was the Inside the NBA crew entertaining in roasting the Timberwolves? Hell yes.
2. This is so beyond stupid. Because the Giants were up 9–1 against the Padres last night, San Francisco’s batters were supposed to stop trying, apparently, because Mauricio Dubon bunted for a hit, and everybody got all pissed off.
3. Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud probably angered a lot of baseball traditionalists Tuesday night because he actually tried to have fun during a game.
4. Who knows whether this is true, but the NFL world would’ve combusted had this happened and it would’ve been awesome.
5. This was great job by the Phillies fans. One day after apologizing for saying, “I hate this f—ing place,” Philadelphia second baseman Alec Bohm walked up to home plate Wednesday night to a loud ovation.
6. This week’s SI Media Podcast features a conversation with Adnan Virk of the MLB Network and the NHL Network.
Topics covered include the start of the Major League Baseball season and my issues with MLB’s exclusive streaming deals, Tiger Woods playing in the Masters, what we’d like to see Elon Musk change at Twitter, HBO’s Winning Time, East Coast bias, Bill Raftery, Mike Trout, Chris Russo’s renaissance, Jim Miller’s excellent HBO book, the death of Seinfeld‘s Estelle Harris and much more.
Virk, who hosts the Cinephile podcast, also had very strong opinions on the Will Smith–Chris Rock Oscars controversy and what the Academy Awards got wrong.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: RIP, Gilbert Gottfried.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism