Rookie big man Joan Beringer scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 132-126 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night in Minneapolis.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 26 points for Minnesota (49-33), which relied on young players and reserves in its final game of the regular season. Zyon Pullin scored 19 points off the bench, and Joe Ingles capitalized on a rare start to notch a double-double with 15 points and 10 assists.
Jeremiah Fears scored 36 points on 12-for-29 shooting to lead New Orleans (26-56). Derik Queen finished with 30 points and 22 rebounds, and Micah Peavy scored 21 points.
The Timberwolves already were locked into the No. 6 playoff seed in the Western Conference. They learned they will face the Denver Nuggets, who secured the No. 3 seed by beating the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night.
The Timberwolves led by double digits late in the game and held on for the win.
Beringer made a pair of free throws to put Minnesota on top 124-114 with 1:21 to go. Fears followed by converting a three-point play and trimming the Pelicans’ deficit to seven points with 1:15 left.
Queen made a layup on New Orleans’ next possession to pull the team within 125-119 with 55.2 seconds left. But the Timberwolves held firm thanks to Shannon’s free-throw shooting; he made 7 of 8 in the final minute.
Minnesota led 73-59 at the half. Julian Phillips made an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Jaylen Clark in the closing moments of the first half.
Both teams played without key starters in the regular-season finale.
The Timberwolves sat out top scorer Anthony Edwards, who dealt with right knee inflammation in the final few weeks of the regular season. They also played without Jaden McDaniels (left knee injury maintenance), Rudy Gobert (rest), Julius Randle (right hand injury maintenance), Naz Reid (right shoulder injury maintenance) and Ayo Dosunmu (right calf injury maintenance).
New Orleans rested Herbert Jones and Saddiq Bey. They also did not have veteran big man Zion Williamson, who missed the regular-season finale because of right knee injury management.
