The Timberwolves host the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals at Target Center tonight, a bout that comes just 70 hours after Minnesota ousted Denver in Game 7 of the West semifinals to cap a long, grueling series.

Time moves fast in the NBA playoffs. Much faster than the Timberwolves are accustomed to, anyway.

The Wolves had a week between the end of the regular season and Game 1 of the first round against Phoenix. Minnesota’s sweep of the Suns created a similar gap ahead of its series with Denver.

But going the distance with the Nuggets means the Wolves will now have to flip the page quickly, because an entirely different chapter awaits.

Dallas is nothing like Minnesota’s previous two opponents. The Mavericks are a heavy pick-and-roll team, while Phoenix often resorted to isolation basketball, and Denver ran a lot of dribble hand-off actions.

“We know it’s going to be a different style of game — a lot more pick and rolls. The ball handler is the (Nikola) Jokic of the series, where they do a lot of stuff for Luka (Doncic) and Kyrie (Irving), and guys have to be in and out of help situations,” Wolves point guard Mike Conley said. “They play fast with the throw aheads to their athletic wings. So we’ll have multiple challenges this series, and we’ll have to figure that out right away. And, obviously only getting a day and a half to prepare for them, it’s different than the last two series. … So we got to lock in right away.”

Defensively, Dallas has two rim protectors in Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively, while Phoenix nor Denver had much to deter potential drivers who reached the hoop. So, the Mavericks could play someone like Anthony Edwards more straight-up knowing useful help exists behind the primary defender.

These are all things the Wolves have seen before and handled, but they haven’t had to do so in more than a month.

“We spent a lot of time going through that stuff (Tuesday) in practice, just getting back to that foundation of those options on offense and different things we’re going to have to do on defense,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Yeah, we’ve done it. We said all season long we’ve preached to our guys we’re going to have to be to do a lot of different things and the reason we want to do it, not just to navigate a season, but also navigate a playoffs. So we have some experience doing it all.”

Which is helpful, considering Minnesota still probably isn’t exactly sure what approaches — on either end — it will need to utilize to beat the Mavericks. Because it hasn’t played Dallas – not this Dallas, anyway.

The Wolves went 3-1 against the Mavericks during the regular season. But all three wins came when Dallas was without Irving, the star guard, and all four matchups came prior to the trade deadline. The Mavericks were a major winner at the deadline, acquiring multi-faceted wing P.J. Washington and solid center Daniel Gafford, both of whom now start for Dallas.

Their arrivals made the Mavericks deeper, more versatile and, most importantly, far better defensively.

Post deadline, Dallas went 21-9, sporting the league’s seventh-best offense and eighth-best defense.

“We haven’t faced that team yet. We’ve faced some of these guys, obviously, but that group together, we haven’t faced it yet,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “So it’s a big challenge for us, but we also believe in who we are, believe in our strengths and we believe in our ability to try to slow them down, and also offensively our ability to find good shots for our team. We know it’s going to be really tough. We know these guys are an incredible team. They’re here for a reason. But everyone in this locker room believes and are just ready for that challenge.”

They better be. Because there is no time to dip their toes into this series. As Denver learned the hard way, a slow start can sometimes prove too difficult to overcome.

“We didn’t expect, just because we beat Phoenix or Denver, that now it’s our time to just run through the West. No, Dallas is here for a reason,” Conley said. “they’re playing some of the best defense and best offense we’ve seen. So that’s our mindset, just sticking to the game plan, getting ready for Dallas.”

All-Defense selections

To the surprise of no one, Gobert was selected first-team All-NBA Defense on Tuesday. The four-time Defensive Player of the Year was joined by fellow big men Bam Adebayo of Miami, Anthony Davis of the Lakers and rookie Victor Wembenyama of San Antonio. The only wing on the first team was New Orleans’ Herb Jones.

The second team, meanwhile, was a haven for the league’s lockdown defensive wings. Featured on that unit was Gobert’s teammate, Jaden McDaniels. The 23-year-old is an All-Defense honoree for the first time in his career after, like Gobert, playing a significant role in Minnesota touting the NBA’s top defense.

Gobert and McDaniels are the Wolves’ third-and-fourth All-Defense honorees, joining Kevin Garnett and Jimmy Butler.

“That was the most important for me, just to see him get his first all-defensive team. He wants to be in the first team, and I think he’s a top five defender in this league, but it’s good to get your first one, and now he gets to show the world who he is every night on the biggest stage,” Gobert said. “So I’m really proud of him, the work that he puts in, the growth, the maturity that he’s shown throughout the year and especially now in the playoffs, we definitely wouldn’t be here without him. The sky is the limit, but it’s good to get his first one. I’m happy for him.”

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WASHINGTON — The Twins’ offense is getting closer to having one of its most important pieces back.

On Monday, Royce Lewis ran the bases for the first time since straining his quadriceps on Opening Day. He’ll continue running throughout the week and once the Twins return home, they’ll have a much better sense for his timeline to return.

“Friday will be a big tell for us, because we’re going to do a lot of stuff with him where we’re going to try to put him in as (many) game-scenario situations as we can,” head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said.

Lewis has been participating in other baseball activities — taking ground balls, hitting both on the field and in the cage — and last week, Paparesta said the third baseman did well both with his change-in-direction running and ramping up his sprinting.

Should all go well this week, Paparesta said they are “heading in the right direction of a rehab assignment.”

It’s been a frustrating for Lewis, who has described this rehab as the most mentally challenging of his career. It’s been more challenging, he’s said, than even the much lengthier rehab processes he had after surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, in large part because of the uncertainty of the return timetable and because of how good he’s felt lately.

“A lot of it is just spending time with him and listening to him and letting him be who he is, which is always very positive, always very good, which are all good signs but we have to go by the science a little bit on that and explain that to him,” Paparesta said. “Ultimately you just get to a relationship where Royce comes in every day and tells us he’s good and we’re excited to hear that and that’s good but he knows there’s things that we need and I think it’s just a good give and take.”

Stewart progressing

Reliever Brock Stewart, out with right shoulder tendinitis, is also progressing towards his return, though he has yet to start throwing a baseball.

Paparesta said Stewart has thrown with plyometric balls and expected him to do a few more days of that before moving to the next step in his rehab process.

“That’s more or less just him mimicking his throwing motion motion and getting into his mechanics of what he needs,” Paparesta said. “He’s heading on the right path at this point.”

Twins make change atop lineup

Manuel Margot found his name penciled in atop the Twins’ lineup on Tuesday for the first time since mid-April. The reason for the change, which came against the left-hander Patrick Corbin, was two-fold, manager Rocco Baldelli said.

One, Baldelli cited the quality of Margot’s at-bats of late, noting that it looked like the outfielder was “finding some timing and doing a good job.”

The other was to move Ryan Jeffers and Carlos Correa, who were second and third in the lineup on Tuesday, down a spot, putting them in a position to drive in runs.

“Those guys have been at the top with lefties for a while now, in one version or another,” Baldelli said. “They’ve had good at-bats. They’ve done good work.”

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Emanuel Reynoso might be headed south of the border.

Reporter Cesar Luis Merlo said Tuesday that Minnesota United’s standout midfielder had “signed” with Club Tijuana in Mexico’s Liga MX, but the MLS all-star midfielder’s exit from the Loons is not yet done, the Pioneer Press has learned. The Athletic reported the two clubs are in “advanced talks.”

Liga MX has been a popular possible destination for Reynoso; the 28-year-old was linked to FC Juarez last week.

Reynoso returned from a seven-week unexcused absence in his native Argentina approximately May 10. He had missed his team-organized U.S. green card meeting in his native country in late March and remained there against MNUFC’s wishes.

The recent actions of Reynoso, who has played in one MLS game this season, damaged his relationships within MNUFC. Captain Michael Boxall said last week that despite Reynoso’s return to Minnesota that Boxall hadn’t seen him and Reynoso was “out of sight, out of mind.”

Reynoso has been put on a return-to-play protocol and has not trained with the Loons’ first team since coming back to Minnesota. He has been shown on Apple TV at the Loons’ last two home games at Allianz Field.

Reynoso also missed the opening five months of the 2023 season before coming back and contributing 10 goals (six scored and four primary assists) in 18 games. In between the two prolonged absences, Reynoso missed the opening week of training camp in Blaine in January before joining his teammates for preseason work in Arizona the following week.

United paid a $5 million transfer fee to acquire Reynoso from Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires in 2020. The potential suitor clubs this time around will know of the Reynoso’s current strained situation with MNUFC and are likely looking for a bargain deal.

If the Loons sell Reynoso, new Loons Chief Soccer Officer Khaled El-Ahmad would need to navigate the best possible transfer and recoup as much of that fee as possible.

Reynoso is the Loons second-highest paid player at $2.2 million this year; he is currently signed through the end of the 2025 MLS season. If the Loons unload Reynoso, it would open up one of their three Designated Player spots for bigger additions in the summer transfer window in July and August.