Anthony Edwards going for the jump ball at the opening tip in Minnesota’s 115-112 loss to the Denver Nuggets exemplified his commitment to this franchise. Down big men in Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz Reid, the Wolves had to shuffle their rotation in unusual ways, forcing Kyle Anderson to start at center.
Anderson then picked up three quick fouls in the first few minutes of the game, having taken on the unenviable task of guarding likely three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. In stepped Luka Garza, who had played only 17 games this season and spent considerable time with the G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves.
That didn’t go well, either. The Wolves struggled to contain the Nuggets, who appear to have mastered the art of team basketball. Consider everything going against them. Gobert, Towns, and Reid were out, it was the second night of a back-to-back, and Edwards was still hurt from the night before. Many people would have forgiven the team for rolling over. It was as close to a guaranteed defeat as you ever see.
And yet, this Wolves team always puts up a fight. They didn’t win the game but overcame an 18-point deficit in 12 minutes to take the lead. Jaden McDaniels had one of his best performances of the season, with 26 points, 6 rebounds, and consistently outstanding defense. Garza’s aggressive second-half defense against Jokic was admirable.
The team’s commitment to winning is clear. They are 47-22 in a stacked Western Conference and continue to fight even with the cards stacked against them. Perhaps they didn’t beat the Nuggets, but it didn’t feel like a loss.
“We expect to win,” said Chris Finch. “It doesn’t matter who we have playing or who we don’t have playing. This team has a ton of heart. They’re gonna fight. From the very moment we came together this season, we just have expectations to win no matter what the circumstances are.”
That ethos carries through to the team on the court. The Timberwolves are a historically unsuccessful franchise, with many fans still scarred from the dire teams of the past 20 years. But this group of players doesn’t care about history or what’s come before. They want to win, and that’s all that matters.
As fans, we commit large amounts of money to following the team each year. It might be buying tickets, traveling to games, or paying for the different networks needed to watch them. And we must know that the players care as much as we do.
There are plenty of players in the league who fans accuse of playing for a paycheck, but none of them play for the Timberwolves. That makes watching them so much more enjoyable because you know that whatever happens, they will give 100% to winning every basketball game. They won’t win them all, of course. But it’s far easier to live with defeats when they’ve done everything they can to get the win.
It didn’t matter that the Wolves were down; they wanted to — and believed they could — win every single game. “I don’t think our guys will approach any game, big or little, with any other mindset than expecting to win,” Finch said. “We just have to figure out how to do it.”
That mindset will be crucial as the Wolves fight for a top-three seed in a brutal Western Conference. They face the Nuggets twice in that time, the Phoenix Suns twice, and have games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and Los Angeles Lakers.
They will be without Towns for much of, if not all, of this run. Gobert’s rib injury will be uncomfortable, and the timeline is unclear. We don’t know much about Naz Reid’s injury. The team may yet play with a hand tied behind their back. Still, as we have seen this season, it doesn’t bother them. No excuses. They just get on the court and do their thing.
Anthony Edwards dislocated his finger in the extraordinary dunk over John Collins when the Wolves beat the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. If you’ve never dislocated your finger before, it’s hard to describe how much that hurts. He returned after having it popped back into place to go on a heater that won the game. Then he scored 30 against the reigning champions the following night.
If that doesn’t sum up this team’s mentality, willingness to play, and desire to win, then I do not know what does. It’s truly admirable, and sometimes, we need to step back, take a moment, and just enjoy a team like this in Minnesota while they’re here.
