Terrence Shannon Jr. was active for Game 6 on Friday night, and the Timberwolves announced his availability at 7:10 p.m. on Twitter after listing him on the injury report earlier in the day.
Shannon was added to the report at 12:54 p.m. and tagged as questionable because of a head contusion, but he was cleared in time for Minnesota's home game against San Antonio. The team needed a win to force Game 7 on Sunday after falling behind 3-2 in the series.
The timing mattered because Shannon has moved from a bit player to a real part of Chris Finch's rotation. He played 43 regular-season games for Minnesota and averaged 12.5 minutes per game, then was buried under multiple DNP-CDs to open the playoffs before breaking through with 24 points in nearly 35 minutes in the close-out win over Denver in the first round.
Since then, Minnesota has leaned on him again. In five games against San Antonio in the conference semifinals, Shannon averaged 8.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 25.0 minutes per contest, even while going 14-of-48 from the field and 3-of-17 from three-point range. He finished those games at 29.2 percent shooting overall and 17.6 percent from deep.
The injury note briefly created uncertainty around whether he would be available for the most important game of Minnesota's series to that point. Instead, the team got him back in uniform, giving Finch one more option as the Timberwolves tried to extend their season and turn a 3-2 deficit into a winner-take-all Sunday night.
