Have you ever seen that KIA commercial where Draymond Green picks up a runaway basketball in the middle of a mountain road? You know, the one where he hops into a KIA Telluride and ultimately outruns being chased by a wolf?
Well, maybe they should make a director’s cut or alternate ending of that ad because after nearly two years of airing, the Wolves have finally caught Green and the Golden State Warriors.
It seemed like a lifetime ago that the Minnesota Timberwolves were trailing 0-1 to the Warriors. But after reeling off four straight wins, including a 121-110 Game 5 victory over the Dubs, they are headed back to the Western Conference Finals for consecutive years. Make no mistake, the Timberwolves are still hungry to advance even further.
“It feels good to get to that step, but my stomach is not full, not at all,” said Rudy Gobert on reaching the Western Conference Finals again. “It’s just one step. Last year, it felt different. It was a Game 7, and we were down, I don’t know how many at half, and we came back and won, so the adrenaline was different.
“But this year, we sat down at the start of the season and said we have to get back further than last year. We want to achieve our goal, and we’re halfway there. We know it’s not gonna get easier at all, but we’re focused on that.”
How exactly did the Wolves close out the series? What was their secret? It wasn’t a secret at all. They were just playing like they were supposed to collectively.
The scariest version of the Timberwolves isn’t the version of Anthony Edwards going off on a scoring rampage, Gobert getting 20 points and 20 rebounds, or even the triple-double Julius Randle version. The Wolves are most dangerous when they make the correct reads and passes on offense.
The Timberwolves had 36 assists on 49 field goals made and just as impressively shot a playoff franchise-high 62.8%. Wait, that’s not all. They also had six players score in double figures.
Randle stayed hot with 29 points. Edwards added 22 points. Gobert had another strong closeout game with 17 points, and Jaden McDaniels chipped in a solid 14.
Donte DiVincenzo looked like he shot his way out of a slump with 13 points off the bench. And how about that Mike Conley? He has been praised as a leader on the court and in the locker room all year, but he definitely had a throwback game in the box score Wednesday night.
Conley was averaging just 6.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in this series before entering Game 5. He finished with 16 points, six rebounds, and eight assists.
“Yeah, I felt confident that we’d come out and play well, and I felt that we kind of figured out an offensive rhythm,” Chris Finch said, who has thankfully reached a conference finals without rupturing his patellar tendon. “Last game, we thought we had a lot of puzzles to solve. I thought we’d come out and play well, and we did.
“Fortunately, we had a cushion. We looked gassed at times, and they just kept hustling and hustling, beat us to some balls, but thankfully, we had that cushion. Everybody stepped up and played really well, led by our vets today, Mike, Rudy, Julius, they were kind of leading the way. It was great to see Donte with a big game out there again, just a very solid effort from everyone.”
The Wolves led by 15-20 points for most of the game. However, Golden State’s championship DNA and competitiveness kicked in, and they went on a run to cut the deficit to just 99-90 with 7:00 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Edwards then pulled up and hit another pivotal and crippling 3-pointer, extending the score to 102-90, and the Wolves went on cruise control to finish the game. He could have missed that 3-pointer, allowing the Warriors to rebound and potentially cut the lead to seven or six points, but there was no way Ant was going to let that happen.
“I told them today, the most together team and the most mature team is the team that wins around this time,” said Edwards, who finished with a career-high 12 assists.
“It’s not about who gets 30 points, who gets the most shots, who gets all the blame for winning the game. It’s not about none of that, it’s about coming together as a team, can we defend at a high level and limit the team to one shot. It doesn’t really matter about offense. As long as we get good shots, it doesn’t matter who shoots it. We did tonight.”
The Timberwolves, as a franchise, have made 13 postseason appearances. They either lose in the first round (10 times) or advance to the Western Conference Finals (2004, 2024, 2025). However, it feels different because they have reached the Western Conference Finals for consecutive seasons for the first time. It isn’t an accident or coincidence; they are on a mission.