Last week, the Minnesota Timberwolves were in darkness, and not the good kind.
They didn’t willingly retreat into a dark cave, as Aaron Rodgers and Rudy Gobert did, for self-reflective meditation. Instead, injuries exiled the Timberwolves to a sunken place.
On Apr. 5, the Charlotte Hornets banished the Wolves into that dark cave with a 122-108 win at Target Center. It was Minnesota’s third straight loss and the eighth time in 10 games playing without Anthony Edwards, down with a right knee injury, and Minnesota’s fifth straight game without Jaden McDaniels, dealing with tendinopathy in his left knee.
“It feels like we’re a million miles away from the team that we can be and that we are,” Finch, with four games left in the regular season, said after the game.
The Timberwolves appeared headed to the playoffs injured and emotionally disconnected, which has been their fatal flaw all year. After the loss to Charlotte, it was difficult to see the light of another postseason run in the Wolves’ midst.
However, the vibes shifted north during the final week of the regular season. The Wolves can see the light again, and that may be the best news yet for their playoff hopes.
Entering last week, the Timberwolves needed one win to secure a top-six seed. The chances were slim, but there was a world in which the Phoenix Suns overtook Minnesota in the standings and the Wolves had to host a Play-In Tournament game.
The Timberwolves should not have been in that situation to begin with. They rolled out their preferred starting lineup 54 times this season, more than any other team. But they remained moody and inconsistent. And when things went sideways, the Wolves grew disconnected, preventing them from ever finding a consistent groove.
“We own that,” Finch told Paul Allen on KFAN last week. “At times we’ve looked forward through the regular season, and, you know, now it’s up to us to change that mindset and attack these playoffs with all the opportunity that is there for us.”
Minnesota clinched and was eventually locked into the sixth seed after its 124-104 win Tuesday over the Indiana Pacers. Ayo Dosunmu (24 points on 10 of 17 shooting) and Bones Hyland (19 points and 7 assists off the bench) headlined the win.
They reminded everyone that with both of them charging up the court and running the offense with efficient shooting and a contagious pace, even if the rotation isn’t 100% healthy, the Wolves still have a dynamic offensive punch that can win them playoff games.
Since Mar. 1, Edwards missed 11 of 22 games, McDaniels missed six-straight, Julius Randle dealt with back spasms, and Naz Reid battled through a nagging right shoulder injury. The Wolves were limping, and their margin for error was razor-thin. For a team that struggled to play up to its potential with a fully healthy roster, it was almost impossible to see them making a postseason run with a banged-up team.
That’s why locking up the sixth seed as quickly as possible was essential. Doing so on Tuesday allowed the coaching staff to rest some of its players over the final three regular-season games against the Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, and New Orleans Pelicans.
On paper, those games were rendered meaningless after the Wolves clinched a playoff spot. But they kept the vibes as high, if not higher, than they’ve been all season.
“That’s the crazy thing about the league,” Finch said. “Like, [you] can be in a dark place, and a week later, you can be in the midst of a good run.”
Mike Conley, Gobert, Edwards, Dosunmu, and Randle sat out against the Magic. That allowed Finch to start Joe Ingles so that his family, who still live in Orlando because of the school system they found during Ingles’ time with the Magic, could see him play. Ingles scored in the first quarter and pointed toward his family.
“It was fun,” Finch said. “I thought Joe actually played really well. And this could very well be Joe’s last season in the NBA. The timing couldn’t have been better. And his teammates were excited for him, which is what gave me goosebumps.”
The Wolves weren’t supposed to beat the Magic, and they didn’t. Orlando won 132-120. But it never felt like the blowout loss that it was. Naz Reid scored 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting in 24 minutes, building on his 17-point performance against Indiana and looking more like the offensive sparkplug that he is when healthy.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored a career-high 33 points in 31 minutes off the bench against Orlando on 11 of 14 shooting and 5 of 7 from deep. He threw down a poster dunk, sending his teammates into a frenzy, and hit a buzzer-beater at halftime.
He looked like the player who gave the Wolves confidence last season that he could help fill in for Nickeil Alexander-Walker, but a left foot strain and the unwillingness to attempt right-handed layups held Shannon back this season. But over this last week, Shannon may have earned himself some meaningful playoff minutes.
“He’s stayed ready,” Finch said. “He’s stayed with it mentally. He’s found a way to impact. And all of that stuff pays dividends. It doesn’t always pay dividends on a night, but it will pay dividends over the long term.”
Shannon had another big opportunity against Houston on Friday. Edwards and McDaniels played, but Gobert, Randle, Reid, Hyland, and Ingles did not. That gave Shannon 23 minutes off the bench in which he scored a team-high 23 points on 8 of 13 shooting and 5 of 7 from deep. He also threw down another nasty dunk.
Minnesota snapped Houston’s eight-game win streak 136-132. The game had no postseason implications for the Wolves, but the entire team played as if their postseason fate were on the line. It was an improbable and incredible win. The type of win that leaves players euphoric.
The type of win that means so much — arguably too much — to this Wolves team.
To wrap up the regular season, Kevin Garnett sat courtside for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. It was his first time at Target Center since the Wolves debuted the Prince jerseys for the first time in 2018. He walked out to “Homecoming” by Kanye West in a historically euphoric moment at Target Center.
As the Wolves enter the first round against the Denver Nuggets, the hope is that the pressure and excitement of postseason basketball will be enough to keep this team out of the darkness — even if the vibes get low — as they aim toward another deep playoff run.
“The margins are slim, but we’re proud to have made the playoffs again,” Finch said. “We’re not worried about who we play or where we play. We know we got to play better basketball, but we’re up for the challenge.”
Much to their detriment this season, the Wolves are an emotionally charged team. Last week should have been the cherry on top of an overall successful season. But it meant more than that. The Wolves are out of the darkness. The vibes are good, and the playoffs are here.
