MINNEAPOLIS — Andrew Wiggins left Minnesota’s arena on Monday night with the hope that Denver would lose and, thus, secure the Timberwolves a spot in the playoffs.

He planned to track the Nuggets on his smartphone like most of his teammates, but there was no viewing party in the works or anxious huddle around the high-definition television in the locker room.

The Timberwolves mostly were just relieved they did their part by beating Memphis, considering way they’ve playing lately.

“It’s our fault for leaving it up to chance,” Wiggins said. “So we’ve just got to wait and see.”

Fittingly for a once-promising season that has become a slog to the finish, the Wolves wound up watching the Nuggets rally past Portland about an hour after they left the court at Target Center. That kept Denver tied with Minnesota at 46-35 for eighth place in the Western Conference with two days remaining on the schedule.

Well, guess who their final opponent is? The Nuggets will bring a six-game winning streak to Target Center on Wednesday night.

“If it was easy it wouldn’t be fun,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said after practice Tuesday. “If it was easy it wouldn’t be the Minnesota way.”

The Wolves’ last trip to the playoffs ended with a loss in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals in 2004, when Kevin Garnett was patrolling the post. Towns? He was 8 years old. Wiggins was 9.

“They’ve prepared themselves all year for this,” coach Tom Thibodeau said, expressing confidence in the team’s young cornerstones to perform up to the task despite missing critical postseason experience.

With the Nuggets and Wolves only one game behind New Orleans, Oklahoma City and San Antonio, the winner could receive quite the reward. Both Denver and Minnesota can still finish as high as fifth.

There’ll be some relief and satisfaction just to be part of the 16-team tournament after the 82-game grind, but avoiding the eighth seed and a matchup with league-leading Houston would be preferable.