It all comes down to Wednesday.

The Timberwolves’ 113-94 win over tanking Memphis on Monday left the Wolves with a path to clinch an NBA playoff berth as early as Monday night.

San Antonio needed to beat Sacramento and Portland had to best Denver to push Minnesota into the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

The Spurs rallied to top the Kings 98-85 shortly after Minnesota’s victory — check. The Spurs joined Oklahoma City and New Orleans in locking up playoff spots with wins on Monday evening.

That left Wolves players checking their phones or tablets for updates on the Denver-Portland seesaw battle. The Wolves’ coaching staff could be heard responding to each bucket and foul call late in the game.

“I’m not relying on anybody right now, just focused on what we gotta do,” Taj Gibson said. “If we’ve got to get the job done ourselves, we’ve got to be ready.

“You’ve got to do things yourself in this league, it feels like.”

Gibson was right. In the end, it was Denver 88, Portland 82. Over the past week or two, seemingly nothing went the Wolves’ way in terms of help from other teams. And Minnesota stubbed its toe a few too many times.

So the Wolves’ playoff drought lives on for two more days, setting up a play-in game between Minnesota and the Nuggets for the final playoff spot. The winner of Wednesday’s duel at Target Center advances to the playoffs; the loser goes home.

Play-in games on the final night of the season are a rarity in the NBA. But it’s only fitting that if the Wolves are going to end their drought, this is how they must do it.

“I have faith,” Derrick Rose said. “I believe if we do what we’re supposed to do, we shouldn’t have to worry about how anything goes. Win this next game and everything else is out of our hands.”

Minnesota has a lot of youth — Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Tyus Jones haven’t felt pressure like this previously in their NBA careers — but the Wolves do possess veterans who’ve been here, done that.

Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson won a must-win Game 82 with the Bulls. Jimmy Butler led Chicago to a win-and-in victory just last season. Their experiences could pay dividends, though Gibson’s availability for Wednesday’s contest could be in doubt. He left Monday’s game with neck soreness in the first half — the product of an injury suffered in the win over the Lakers on Friday — and didn’t return.

Even Monday, with the Denver game still in the balance, Butler was locked in on Wednesday. Others were checking the scores of other games. He wasn’t.

“Man, I’m trying to go get some food,” Butler said. “What am I checking my phone for? See if a lady friend texted me? I’m not going to check my phone. I’m going to go eat. A win can control our own destiny. We’ve got a game on Wednesday, anyway. No matter what, we’re going in there to win.”

Now, they need to. Wednesday promises to provide an electric atmosphere. This Wolves’ season has been up and down, filled with successes not seen in this state in the past 14 years, but also damaged by injuries and inexperience that led to occasional disappointments.

There have been bad, bad losses — the Wolves avoided another one of those Monday, pulling away from Memphis in the second half with a strong effort highlighted by notable performances from Rose, Towns, Butler and Jeff Teague. It was the first time the Wolves (46-35) had beaten the Grizzlies (22-59) this season in three tries. But there have also been great wins. This, after all, is the franchise’s first winning season since 2005.

But it will be considered even somewhat a success only if Minnesota succeeds Wednesday. Moves were made this offseason with the expectation of winning now. So that’s what the Wolves must do — win now.

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Briefly

Oklahoma City beat Miami on Monday to clinch a playoff spot in the Western Conference, which secured a first-round draft pick for Minnesota. The Timberwolves acquired the Thunder’s lottery-protected first-round pick last summer from Utah in the Ricky Rubio deal.