D Wolves Get It Done

If you didn’t see it with your own eyes, you probably would never have believed it happened.  A second half turnaround in a decisive NBA playoff game of this magnitude was unprecedented.  And if one were to merely look at a box score, given how the anointed one’s final statistics looked, you probably would be even more skeptical that the story that is dominating sports websites (because, let’s face it, most print newspapers simply don’t keep their presses open late enough any more to accommodate night games) would be fake news.

But indeed, at least one daily did hold out for this story, and the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE’s Chris Hine didn’t hold back his giddiness or his shock one iota:

For two decades, Game 7 of the 2004 second-round series in which the Timberwolves beat the Sacramento Kings stood as the franchise’s shining moment.

It finally got some company Sunday night, as this Wolves team, 20 years to the day of that victory, came through with a performance that will echo in team history with a 98-90 Game 7 comeback victory over the defending champion Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena.

In the ultimate test of their mental fortitude, a team that got tossed out of the playoffs last season in five games by this same Denver team came back from a 20-point second-half deficit in a hostile environment, and for only the second time in team history, the Wolves are on to the Western Conference finals, where they will meet the Dallas Mavericks with Game 1 on Wednesday at Target Center.

And as the ALL TIMBERWOLVES site reminded, that epic comeback was not keyed by the offense of its 22-year-old star .  Anthony Edwards had just four points on 1-of-7 shooting in the first half, it starkly stated.  But Edwards and his teammates’ pulverizing defense kicked into high gear at the right time, as Hine detailed:

Their defense forced the ball out of the hands of (Nikola) Jokic, and Denver began clanking shots. With each miss, the Wolves’ confidence gained a little extra juice. Their defense that had been so soul-crushing earlier in the series finally arrived. They held Jamal Murray, who had 24 points in the first half, to 11 in the second half. Denver shot just 36% after the break, going 4-for-21 from three-point range.

And in a deliciously ironic turn of events, it was a few of much-maligned teammates of Edwards who rewrote their own legacies:

Per CBS SPORTS’ Isabel Gonzalez:

Jaden McDaniels also had outstanding stats with 23 points on 70% shooting, along with six rebounds, two steals and one block. 

One of his (almost) highlights was a dunk attempt with 20 seconds remaining. It was unsuccessful, but many still appreciated his killer instinct. Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero said the “bounce lob attempt was crazy” and shared a post that described McDaniels as a “psychopath.”

Per Hine:

(Rudy) Gobert had a couple of improbable buckets, including a high-arcing fadeaway jumper to beat the shot clock in the fourth quarter that had everyone scratching their heads over how he made it. Gobert had eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter before fouling out with 2 minutes, 5 seconds left.

But Hine saved his most effusive accolades for the T-Wolf with the most seniority:

(N)o member of the Wolves re-wrote their legacy in a bigger way Sunday than Karl-Anthony Towns. With Anthony Edwards struggling to get going on offense (16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists on 6-for-24 shooting), Towns kept the Wolves afloat in the first half as he scored 13 of his 23 points. Towns again provided the best one-on-one defense of any player on NBA MVP Nikola Jokic (34 points on 13-for-28 shooting, 19 rebounds, seven assists) and he mostly stayed out of foul trouble until late in the game.