DENVER – There is no more waiting for your turn in today’s NBA, no more necessary suffering a team must endure before reaching elite status.
Windows open and close faster than anyone would expect, so if there’s an opportunity, you better take it.
And the Minnesota Timberwolves overcame jitters, first-half lethargy and up to 20 years of generational ineptitude to not only cement themselves as a true championship contender, but to knock off the defending champion Denver Nuggets — on their home floor in Game 7, and coming come back from a 20-point deficit to do so.
The Nuggets know that feeling, they were championship chasers last spring, shaking off curses, shaking off injuries to eventually wrest the title from the traditional NBA powerhouses.
That final feeling is the one the Timberwolves hope to have – which is also one of exhaustion, of frustration, the one that says that as champion you must play 82 more games before starting the two-month journey in the hope of recovering. other title.
The Wolves want it now, without all the devastating heartbreak that comes with a championship road.
“It’s the playoffs, we lost last year,” Karl-Anthony Towns said, referring to last year’s first-round loss to the Nuggets.
“We’ve lost the last two years,” Anthony Edwards said, a nod to their first-round loss to Memphis in 2022.
Towns continued: “How much more do we have to lose? We have been losing for 20 years!”
Maybe not much more.
It was the acquisition of Rudy Gobert that started this turnaround, an ambitious bet. And Gobert’s 9-1-1 jumper with the clock ticking was the karmic moment that let everyone know it was Minny’s night.
For the sixth year in a row, the NBA will not have a repeat champion, and for the first time in modern NBA history, the NBA Final Four will not have a current or past Most Valuable Player.
The Timberwolves entered Ball Arena and won for the third time in this series, advancing to the Western Conference finals with a 98-90 victory on Sunday night, the unlikeliest of finals for the unlikeliest of series.
The Timberwolves will have home-field advantage against the Dallas Mavericks when the series begins Wednesday night.
It was all there, the flushed look on Nuggets coach Michael Malone’s face, the weariness dripping from his voice as if he had played 48 minutes and suddenly couldn’t get a shot off.
It was all there, the jubilation in the room behind him as he spoke at his press conference – it was almost cruel. Because it was the Timberwolves’ locker room, giving everyone the screams and boos the moment they certainly deserved.
After initially being bitter, Malone pulled himself together. These Timberwolves were built to beat these same Nuggets, and even though history says a team should suffer a little more before taking over, taking over in today’s league doesn’t last long.
“I’m not an excuse maker, the best team won,” Malone said. “We played until June last year, a lot of basketball. We had to face our main players in game 82 to secure second place. The run last season, and coming back, mentally, emotionally, physically, our guys were gassed. They gave me everything I could ask for.”
Champions used to mock their opponents. From Magic to Isiah, to Michael, to Shaq and Kobe, to Steph and KD, it has become habitual to repeat. If you won one, set your clock to return there, at the same time next year, in June.
Now, June belongs to no one. You can borrow June, but when the contract ends, you will be abruptly evicted – even if you have the best player in the world, Nikola Jokić, even if you have the best non-All Star, Jamal Murray.
“So much has been placed on his shoulders,” Malone said. “We hope that Nikola and Jamal continue to pull rabbits out of their hats and that someone needs to help them. We just struggled to make shots. They are a very good defense.”
The duo carried the Nuggets as far as they could, especially Murray on his injured calf. When Murray came out, all was right in the world in the first half. He and Jokić combined for 69 Nuggets points, but couldn’t find assistance anywhere else. Jokić had 34 and 19 rebounds, but it didn’t feel like a signature Jokić game.
And now, he must cook.
But despite the Timberwolves’ rousing comeback, holding the defending champions to 37 second-half points as they outscored them, looked them in the eye and ran past them, it wasn’t about either team choking or falling short.
It was about two of basketball’s best teams engaging in a fight for two weeks and then delivering a classic seventh game that brought out all the emotions, fears and doubts it should.
The halftime message from the Timberwolves locker room was simple.
“Calm down,” Mike Conley said.
The 15-point halftime deficit would be the biggest to overcome in Game 7 history. And the history of this series said there would be no comebacks, with all the explosions. But this is a different NBA, a different Minnesota team — and somewhere along the way, they realized what seemed obvious a week ago.
They are the better team, if only they could handle the moments.
Then the moments came, in waves.
Edwards, in the midst of a 6-for-24 night, let loose in the open field, defending Murray, jabbing and cajoling, like an annoying little brother, until he ripped the ball away and got layups and dunks.
Then there was Karl-Anthony Towns, who defended Jokić admirably and played well on offense to keep the Wolves within striking distance – both doing everything he could and not doing much at the same time – using his size to drive to the basket.
Malone knew he couldn’t let Edwards explode for a 40, so he stepped up and challenged Towns to beat them.
And then you look up and suddenly the game goes from 58-38 at the 10:50 mark to nine minutes later when the Timberwolves completed a 21-3 run that left everyone’s palms sweaty and cheeks drawn.
You have to play the percentages, both on the floor and on the swing.
This is what makes sustainability in today’s NBA so difficult to achieve, because you can’t truly contribute to the core of the championship and at the same time reward the players who brought you your ring. The Nuggets played just six heavy minutes, with Christian Braun playing 19 on the bench.
Typically teams add vets to the backline, willing to take smaller roles in hopes of claiming a title, but in this brave new, luxury-tax-limited world, the mechanisms for finding a seventh or eighth man – or keeping the ones you have – seem impossible.
Malone swears the Nuggets will be back, and they were expected to be back. Tim Duncan’s Spurs never repeated themselves, suffered some devastating defeats along their journey, and even some embarrassing ones, but they came back for more – and it’s important to note that Malone considers that period of five championships from 1999 to 2014 as a dynasty.
“You go from training camp to the end and then everything stops abruptly,” Malone said. “And it hurts. So use that feeling of motivation to become a better player again. We won last year. Teams in the West regrouped and retooled. How are we going to beat the champions? And the teams improved.”
Bruce Brown, a key member of last year’s run, is elsewhere, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will get a raise after this season if he opts out.
These two are grinders, and the Wolves have embraced that identity — especially Jaden McDaniels (23 points) and Edwards, who marveled at his 2-for-10 showing from 3 in a way only he can. But when the Wolves were attacking, one of those triples closed out the third quarter and made it a one-point game.
The last one, following an open-court steal by Conley, essentially turned out the lights in Ball Arena, giving his team a 10-point lead with 3:07 left.
But there was Edwards, praising Towns next to him on the podium.
“He made all the right plays tonight. He only took 14 shots, always super efficient,” said Edwards. “He carried us tonight, every time we needed a bucket he was there for us. He made the right plays over and over again.”
Edwards is the unquestioned leader, even if he isn’t a seasoned vet – in fact, one of the reasons Gobert was brought to Minnesota was because Towns was a more offensive player than the other side.
And despite Edwards’ place in the pecking order, Towns has worn defeats more than anyone wearing a Timberwolves jersey.
“I definitely had a moment,” Towns said. “I waited nine years. I’ve talked about wanting to win and do something special for this organization and all the failures and things that didn’t come to fruition, and the disappointment that comes with that. Even if just for this moment, celebrate the victories. I saw it all, I saw it all.”
“(Expletive) for nine years,” Edwards said.
This could very well have been said in the locker room, at halftime, and after the game.
The Wolves have ditched the old label and now wear a new one: as favorites, but not for long.
