The Minnesota Timberwolves suspended center Rudy Gobert for their play-in game against the Lakers, after the 10-year veteran threw a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson in an argument in the huddle during a timeout.

The Timberwolves announced on Monday that Gobert would serve his one-game punishment when they face the Lakers tonight. Gobert took a swing at Anderson and hit him in the upper chest in the second quarter of Minnesota’s game against New Orleans on Sunday, when the flustered Timberwolves were trailing by 12 points.

“It’s not something we condone. Veterans can get upset, too, so I don’t want to be too hard on him,” coach Chris Finch said after the game. ‘But obviously it’s not something we’re going to be able to tolerate here.”

Gobert sent a group-text request for forgiveness to his teammates, according to point guard Mike Conley, and later posted a public apology on Twitter.

“It’s an emotional game,” Conley said. “You’re talking about two guys in Kyle and Rudy who are two of the biggest competitors you’ll meet. Stuff happens, honestly.”

Gobert was playing through back spasms that had him listed as questionable for the game.

“We’ve got to be mature, especially late in the season like this,” Conley said. “We can’t let our emotions get the best of us. He knows better than that. Kyle challenges everybody. We know how that works. We have to be able to accept it and move forward.”

Anderson said he didn’t think he and Gobert, who has struggled to find his groove in his first season with Minnesota, would have trouble getting along in the aftermath of their very public conflict.

“We’ll speak about it and move on,” Anderson said. “We’re grown men. It is what it is.”

The Timberwolves rallied to beat the Pelicans 113-108 and take eighth place in the Western Conference. That gives them two chances to win a play-in game to qualify for the playoffs.

If they beat the Lakers they’ll get the No. 7 seed and face Memphis in the first round. If they lose, they’ll host the winner of the New Orleans-Oklahoma City game on Friday night for the No. 8 seed and a first-round date with Denver.

The Wolves also lost forward Jaden McDaniels on Sunday to a hand injury after he hit a wall in the tunnel that leads to the locker room after being called for his second foul in the first quarter. Another key player, backup center Naz Reid, is done for the season with a broken wrist from a fall on the court in the game on March 29 at Phoenix.

That’s far from the ideal way to face the surging Lakers, who overtook the Wolves with a rally for a 123-111 win in Minnesota on March 31. Gobert and McDaniels are the team’s two best defenders, a major setback for their ability to guard Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

That will only make third-year All-Star Anthony Edwards more important on both ends of the floor. Edwards had 26 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks and four steals against the Pelicans and figures to continue to pick up the assignment of covering the opponent’s best perimeter player.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Edwards said.

Said Anderson: “I know how good defensively he is. I think we’ve just got to challenge him on being better all the time defensively and not just pick his spots.”

Play-in teams get a new life

Getting to the play-in tournament probably wasn’t the goal of any team when training camps opened back in September.

It does, however, beat the alternative.

There are 12 teams with playoff spots right now, 10 teams whose seasons are over — and eight teams with a second chance. The play-in tournament starts tonight, with Atlanta going to Miami and Minnesota visiting the Lakers, with the winners going to the postseason.

Oklahoma City goes to New Orleans and Chicago visits Toronto on Wednesday for elimination games; loser goes home, winner moves on to face the loser of tonight’s games in another win-or-go-home contest.

“You have to embrace this new experience,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “To the old heads in our locker room, each of us have experienced long NBA careers and not have had this opportunity. I think it’s been great for the league. How harrowing this has been, the last six, eight weeks for 16 teams in the West and the East. It’s just been great for competition and overall. it’s been great for the league.”

The NBA added it to boost end-of-season excitement, give more teams playoff hope — and discourage tanking. Dallas still had a chance at the play-in until its 81st game of the season on Friday, when it held several rotation players out and lost. The NBA is investigating the Mavericks’ motivations there and if Dallas lost to protect its draft odds.

The Heat were the No. 1 seed in the East last season and now need the play-in just to get back to the playoffs. But they’re also playing perhaps their best basketball of the season — just like the Lakers, who went a West-best 16-7 after the All-Star break.

No team that has used the play-in tournament — Portland in 2020 in the bubble under a slightly different format; Boston, Washington, the Lakers and Memphis in 2021; Brooklyn, Atlanta, Minnesota and New Orleans last year — to reach the actual playoffs has ever won a first-round series.