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When the final horn blew, the capacity and white-towel-waving crowd at Target Center stood to soak in Minnesota’s first postseason appearance since 2004. Butler flashed a smile of relief as he hugged his teammates and confetti fluttered above the floor. The fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” as Butler conducted a postgame interview.
Jokic, locked in a classic big-man battle with Towns, finished with 35 points and 10 rebounds, but he missed six of his last eight shots after the third quarter as Denver’s late push fell a few points short.
The Timberwolves are moving on to play the NBA-best Houston Rockets in the first round.
Will Barton, who had 24 points, made a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock for Denver’s first lead, 104-103, since midway through the first quarter. After Taj Gibson hounded Jokic to force an air-balled 3-point try, Jeff Teague swished a floater with 1:19 left in overtime to put the Wolves back in front for good.
Andrew Wiggins sank two foul shots with 15 seconds remaining to finish with 18 points, and the Wolves were finally on their way to a celebration more than a decade in the making.
THUNDER 137, GRIZZLIES 123
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Russell Westbrook clinched a triple-double average for the second straight season, Paul George scored 40 points and Oklahoma beat Memphis.
Westbrook entered the night needing 16 rebounds to clinch the triple-double average. He pulled down his 16th rebound with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter and received a standing ovation. He finished with just six points, but had a career-high 20 rebounds and 19 assists.
Steven Adams scored 24 points and Corey Brewer added 17 for the Thunder, who matched a franchise record with 20 made 3-pointers. Dillon Brooks scored a career-high 36 points for Memphis.
76ERS 130, BUCKS 95
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Joel Embiid and JJ Redick watched from the bench, Ben Simmons had a scoreless first half and Philadelphia still won its 16th consecutive game to take the No. 3 Eastern Conference seed.
Fultz had his first career triple-double with 13 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Justin Anderson led the Sixers with 25 points, and Dario Saric had 24.
Embiid wore a black mask during warmups to protect his broken bone around his left eye, then changed into gold sneakers and a peach-colored jacket to watch the Sixers romp to a stunning 80-44 lead at the break. Embiid said he will likely miss at least Game 1 of the playoffs this weekend because of the injury.
KNICKS 110 Authentic Sylvester Williams Jersey , CAVALIERS 98
CLEVELAND (AP) – LeBron James played in his 82nd game, scored 10 points and then got some rest for the playoffs in Cleveland’s loss to New York in coach Jeff Hornacek’s likely last game with the Knicks.
James had never played every game in his 15-year NBA career. But he capped a remarkable season in which he seemed to break a record every night by adding another accomplishment to his long list of achievements. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said he tried to talk James out of playing, but he gave in and allowed the 33-year-old to extend his record of scoring in double digits to 873 consecutive games before taking him out. James finished with 10 points and five rebounds in 10:33.
Knicks rookie Luke Kornet scored a season-high 23 points.
HEAT 116, RAPTORS 109, OT
MIAMI (AP) – Wayne Ellington scored a career-high 32 points and set Miami’s single-season record for 3-pointers, helping the Heat wrap up the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Ellington finished with eight 3-pointers, giving him 227 for the season. He topped the mark set by Damon Jones, who made 225 in 2004-05. Kelly Olynyk, Dwyane Wade, Justise Winslow, James Johnson and Tyler Johnson each scored 11 points for the Heat.
Kyle Lowry scored 28 points for Toronto, which already had the top seed in the East wrapped up.
PELICANS 122, SPURS 98
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Anthony Davis had 22 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks and three steals, and New Orleans assured itself no worse than the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
Rajon Rondo had 19 points and 14 assists, Nikola Mirotic had 21 points and 15 rebounds, and Jrue Holiday added 19 points for the Pelicans
LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker and Dejounte Murray each scored 11 points for San Antonio.
MAGIC 101, WIZARDS 92
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Rodney Purvis scored 16 points for Orlando and Mario Hezonja finished with 15 points Cheap Ed Dickson Jersey , eight rebounds and six assists.
Jodie Meeks came off the bench to score 18 points for Washington. They lost five of their last six games to take the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
CELTICS 110, NETS 97
BOSTON (AP) – Aron Baynes led a short-handed Boston lineup with a career-best 26 points and 14 rebounds, carrying the Celtics past Brooklyn.
Jonathan Gibson scored 18 points, Guerschon Yabusele had 16 and Shane Larkin added 12 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for the Celtics. Nik Stauskas scored 18 points for the Nets.
PISTONS 119, BULLS 87
CHICAGO (AP) – Rookie Luke Kennard scored a career-high 23 points and Eric Moreland set career bests with 16 points and 17 rebounds for Detroit.
Anthony Tolliver had 18 points and Henry Ellenson added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Rookie Lauri Markkanen had 20 points for Chicago.
KINGS 96, ROCKETS 83
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Willie Cauley-Stein had 22 points an
As major leaguers Trea Turner, Sean Newcomb and Josh Hader face up to racist and homophobic tweets they sent as teenagers, publicist Lauren Walsh recalls how she dealt with a football player who had offensive Facebook posts years before he prepared for the NFL draft.
She went through his whole social media history, taking down any posts that even raised an eyebrow.
Scrubbing tweets, Instagram posts and other comments, captions and status updates has grown into a top priority for LW Branding, Walsh's company that has helped 40 NFL athletes with image control in the past 3 1/2 years.
"Any client that we take on, that's generally the first step we do in the process," Walsh said. "This can take someone down in an instant. All it takes is one tweet. Now, he's going to be known for this. This is what people are talking about."
Turner and Newcomb are the latest high-profile athlete s burned by reckless posts from years past. The 25-year-old Newcomb nearly threw a no-hitter for the Braves against the Dodgers on Sunday 鈥?a career defining moment that took a turn when he called reporters back into the clubhouse to apologize for offensive tweets sent in 2011 and 2012, when he was 18.
Homophobic and racially insensitive tweets by Turner from 2011 and 2012 surfaced Sunday night. The 25-year-old Turner, a shortstop for the Washington Nationals, apologized in a statement released by the team.
"I believe people who know me understand those regrettable actions do not reflect my values or who I am," Turner said. "But I understand the hurtful nature of such language and am sorry to have brought any negative light to the Nationals organization Texans Authentic Jerseys , myself or the game I love."
Hader, who pitches for the Milwaukee Brewers, is still in apology mode after tweets from his past surfaced during the All-Star Game this month. He was given a standing ovation in his first game back in Milwaukee, and then booed when the Brewers made their first road trip of the second half of the season in San Francisco.
The trend touches many young athletes, with millions of posts from thousands of players who have been online since they were kids.
Former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen apologized for a series of offensive tweets he sent while in high school that were revealed right before the NFL draft, when the Buffalo Bills selected him seventh overall. As Villanova's Donte DiVincenzo was celebrating being named most outstanding player of the Final Four, some of his old tweets that included racially insensitive and homophobic comments made headlines.
"This stuff happens all the time and it happens when they get their shining moment," Walsh said. "When all of us were 17, we weren't thinking about where we were going to be in our lives seven years down the road."
But athletes should start thinking about the bigger picture, as damage from slip-ups can be critical to coaches and executives, Walsh said.
The mistakes by Turner, Hader and Newcomb will be discussed by athletic departments, professional teams, agents and handlers looking to protect themselves and their players. As higher-ups grow more aware of the damage social media mishaps can cause, vetting could become more rigid as a key part of evaluating a multimillion-dollar investment.
"In light of recent events, that's definitely something our staff will discuss to potentially eliminate the chance of a negative situation that puts a student-athlete in a bad light," said Creighton spokesman Rob Anderson, who said he doesn't know of any staffer going through a player's entire social media history.
Varsity Monitor keeps up with social media and offers education programs for 15 Division I schools, including North Carolina, Texas and Florida. Chief executive Joe Purvis said business is at an all-time high since 2010, with sales doubling in the past year.
It's not just athletes who should be wary of their past mistakes Authentic Kendall Wright Jersey , Purvis said.
"Sports recruiters and normal employment recruiters are now looking at social media profiles as well as resumes as a standard of that person's character," he said. "If your social profiles have negative posts, they will assume you are negative."
In the sports world, college might actually be too late to make changes. Social media can factor into whether an athlete is even offered a scholarship.
"We've stopped recruiting someone based on what kind of person he is after coaches had chances to assess everything in their life, including social media," said Georgia Southern spokesman Bryan Johnston.
Most schools designate a member of each team's coaching staff to monitor the social media channels of athletes. But the sheer volume of several hundred athletes per school makes it nearly impossible to keep up with everything.
Many schools have presentations early in the school year to educate students about the importance of being smart about social media. North Carolina brings in Derrick Mayes, a former NFL player and co-founder of 5.0 Communications, for "scared straight" seminars to athletes.
"When the reputation of your university, of your program is judged by what a teenager is doing on social media, the more that you can do to try to minimize those surprises, the better for everybody," North Carolina spokesman Steve Kirschner said.
Walsh suggests athletes and average Joes alike scrub their accounts once a year like a spring cleaning, leaving nothing to chance. And to use social media in a positive way.
"Be authentic," she said. "Define your brand and values. And then, you put out your content."
Even better to make smart decisions to begin with so there's no situation to fix, said Purdue spokesman Tom Schott.
"Once you put it out there, regardless of what you think you've deleted, it's probably going to be out there in some form or fashion," he said.
Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: CliffBruntAP .