The Minnesota Timberwolves won the play-in over the Los Angeles Clippers in front of a sellout crowd at Target Center, clinching their highest playoff seed since 2004. Finally, there was something to be excited about with Minnesota basketball. As the team celebrated, I’m sure many Wolves fans were scrolling through social media, celebrating with their friends, or talking some smack. Maybe they stuck around to watch the TNT postgame show, hoping to see the Timberwolves praised by the national media for the first time this season.

They weren’t talking about the Wolves making the playoffs for the second time since the 2003-04 season. Nor were they discussing D’Angelo Russell leading Minnesota to a win or Anthony Edwards bursting onto the playoff scene. All anyone seems to want to talk about is how the Wolves are celebrating too much.

I’ve always mocked baseball fans for their unwritten rules. As a “new school” baseball fan, I enjoy seeing home runs late in games, bat flips, and overboard celebrations. If you don’t want someone to celebrate a home run hit off you, then don’t throw a pitch where they can hit a home run. So, if you don’t want the Wolves to celebrate, beat them.

For players Russell and Taurean Prince, it’s about sending a message.  A message that teams made a mistake on them. These players both in some way shape or form were given up on. DLo led the Brooklyn Nets to the playoffs after being discarded as a bust, only to be immediately dumped for Kyrie Irving. The Nets traded Prince to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who then flipped him to Minnesota. These players have fought hard to be here, they reserve every right to celebrate.

Now for the two players facing the most criticism. Ant and Pat Bev received national attention for recreating Kevin Garnett‘s famous moment.

For Ant, this is a 20-year-old kid who has had his fair share of hardships. He lost his mother and grandmother at an early age. During the pre-draft process, he received criticism for his lack of love for the game of basketball. Ant then drops 30 points in his first “playoff” game and celebrates with his teammates. He showed a lot of emotion for a guy who supposedly didn’t love the game. So does he care too much now? More importantly, is caring too much a thing?

Patrick Beverley became a household name in LA after the Houston Rockets traded him to the Los Angeles Clippers. However, the Clippers offered him a “borderline disrespectful contract offer. This game meant so much to Pat Bev specifically. With his mother and brother sitting in the crowd, he beat his former team who lowballed him. Of course, he’s gonna be emotional.

After Minnesota’s biggest win of the year, the national media had the opportunity to market the Timberwolves to millions of fans who were watching the most popular post-game show. Instead, Charles Barkley described the Wolves as the “dumbest team he’s ever seen play basketball” something he uttered earlier this year. “Only three guys on that team should have the green light.”

The problem is this isn’t how the team has ever worked. The Wolves win using three-point shooting. Imagine how different this team would be if guys like Malik Beasley, Taurean Prince, Jaden McDaniels, or Jaylen Nowell didn’t have the green light.

It shows that they haven’t studied up on the Wolves. That can be excused for your average prime time game, but not for one of the most exciting times of the year. Nearly every NBA fan was watching last night, and the NBA had an opportunity to showcase one of its emerging young teams to a national audience. Instead, they have analysts that didn’t do homework on the team.

The segment shouldn’t be about who has the green light. Rather, it should be something like, Minnesota’s role players have largely contributed to the best offense in the West since the All-Star break. They have the third-most three-pointers ever made in a season, and the league’s highest points per game tally. Now, instead of portraying a mid-market team in a negative light, more fans understand how exciting Minnesota has been.

I’m still not sure why Charles Barkley said there was a green-light issue. I agreed with Barkley the first time he said it. But that problem has since been solved. To bring it up after this game made no sense.

No Timberwolves player outside of the big three shot more than eight shots. Who is he referencing? Malik Beasley, one of the two others who shot at least eight shots, poked the ball away and then hit the key three that sparked Minnesota’s late-game run. Beverley, who shot eight times as well, was a huge part of their success during the game.

LeBron James also laughed at the Wolves.

I won’t say much about LeBron, seeing as he is a four-time champion and has accomplished more than most players ever will. But if his Los Angeles Lakers team played half of the compassion this season that the Wolves team showed last night, they probably would have made the playoffs

Conversely, JJ Reddick made a great argument for the Wolves on his podcast, The Old Man & the Three. Reddick defended Minnesota’s passion. “ The city cared, the fans cared, the players cared,” Reddick said. “ And we’re gonna make fun of that?”.

I thought Rich Eisen made a good point on his talk show as well. “What skin is it off your nose if they celebrate a play-in tournament?” he asked. Eisen is a New York Jets fan. If there’s any fan base that understands pain as much as the Wolves, it’s the Jets.

One thing is for sure. All these people who are saying this isn’t a big accomplishment for the Wolves didn’t follow them through the struggles. Jake Layman was Minnesota’s starting 4 last year. Now Jake has become a fan favorite because you only see him when the Wolves are blowing teams out.

If I were to mark down every single thing Wolves fans and players have endured in the past 4 years, you would be reading this until the offseason. It’s important to let the fans and players celebrate this. After all, at the core of the game is the love for basketball.

It’s a game as simple as throwing an orange ball into an orange cylinder. The fact that something this simple can bring millions together and unite for a single cause should never be forgotten in the minds of basketball fans. Ultimately, if you’re reading this you enjoy basketball, so why can’t the players enjoy themselves too?

And to all those who say act like you’ve been there before, well, frankly, they haven’t.

Hunter Phillips

Hunter is a College student who loves sports. A huge Steelers, Padres and most importantly Timberwolves fan. Zone Coverage is his first writing endeavor. You can find him on Twitter at @hunter_tph

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