Wolves Alive?

Minnesota might have the juice back.

With about five minutes left in last night’s fourth quarter, Jalen Green nailed a three-pointer to give Houston a 104-90 lead over Minnesota — a knock-out punch, by all intents and purposes. Glee followed on Ime Udoka’s bench…dejection on Chris Finch’s. Again.

A year of frustration appeared destined to continue for Minnesota, as last year’s Western Conference Finals run drifted further yet from our memories. Wolves announcer Michael Grady tried valiantly to veil his clear sense of aggravation… to no avail. I can’t blame him.

With game in hand, I bundled up and took my dog for a night walk.

I returned to a bizarro world in which Anthony Edwards was joyously screaming expletives while being interviewed by Minnesota’s TV crew.

“I gotta go get it, shit. Nickeil found me… he cut me off, I’m like shit, I’m going for the win. Like Gilbert Arenas said, I don’t do overtime, so fuck it.”

I furiously rewound my TV, convinced I had entered some alternate timeline.

And I sort of had; I entered a timeline where the Timberwolves — instead of suffering one more blood-boiling loss — now have two straight high-quality wins against Dallas on Christmas and Houston last night, because Anthony Edwards hit a game-winning three-pointer to cap off a 20-4 run in the final 4:19 of this game. Outscoring your opponent by 16 points in a quarter is rare; doing that in 1/3 of one quarter is borderline impossible, but Minnesota achieved it, needing every point in a 113-112 win, probably its most meaningful of the year.

That meaning stems from a few different reasons — winning a close game is huge for a Wolves team ranked 27th in clutch time net rating. This is just the third game Minnesota has won when trailing after the third quarter. It also puts the Wolves at 16-14 on the season, and 8-4 in their last 12 — with the NBA’s best defense in that stretch.

Those all seem important — and would ring hollow if the team lost tonight. But instead of Minnesota can’t pull out games late and the vibes are bad, beating Houston changes the conversation to If Minnesota can just do this consistently…

This might be an inflection point for Chris Finch’s crew.

I’m still not sure what to make of this team because while grinding out wins is impressive and exhilarating… it’s also exhausting. The grinder takes a toll on a team after a while, and Minnesota does have enough talent to blow teams out. Good defensive teams often have to “win ugly,” but sometimes it would be nice to watch a Wolves game and think Yeah, this team should blow out the Pacers or whomever.

The guys Minnesota was promised

Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo… it’s good to see you. The former Knicks had a tough time acclimating in Minnesota, but both are slowly trending toward positive contributions as the Wolves heat up — there’s certainly a correlation there.

DiVincenzo has shot 39% from 3PT in December after shooting 26% in October and 34% in November. Big strides! The volume still needs an uptick — he’s averaging 10.2 points per game this month — but at least the shots are going in now.

Julius Randle (29 assists in his past 4 games) is now looking far more comfortable in a utility role — just do a little bit of everything — than he did earlier in the season.

These two are, in essence, the composition of Karl-Anthony Towns (who Minnesota trades for no goddamned reason) so getting consistent production from them will turn the tides one way or the other.

A telling stretch

Minnesota plays San Antonio, Boston, Oklahoma City, Detroit, LA Clippers, Orlando all in the next 12 days. I might be fully back on board if Minnesota wins four of those games. Beating good teams hasn’t been the problem this season — Minny is 10-10 against teams over .500 — the problem has been any sort of consistency that fans can point to and say I believe in this version of the Wolves.

Every Wolves win feels tenuous; a feeling of dread that Minnesota will play down to its competition after any big win is palpable. I want to believe, but every momentum-building win has been followed by the stupidest loss imaginable. Avoiding that loss in the next few weeks would be a big step toward becoming who I still believe this team can be.

Before the season started, I picked Minnesota to make the NBA Finals out of the Western Conference. I convinced myself everything would fall into place and this team would be dominant enough defensively that a top-13ish offense would be enough. They’re 21st right now. That’s not good enough no matter how stifling the defense is.

Mike, we need to talk

I don’t want to be the one to say this… but Mike Conley isn’t providing enough on either end of the floor to be the starting point guard of a team with NBA Finals dreams in 2025. He’s still a good on-ball defender and can serve as a great backup point guard, but his volume and shooting numbers (8.2 points, 34% FG) just aren’t good enough to justify starting him for 82 games a year.

This is painful! Mike Conley rules!

The solution could come from in-house. I like Rob Dillingham’s game as much as anyone… but a rookie point guard producing at a high level doesn’t feel any more likely than a 37 year-old Mike Conley doing it. Throwing Dillingham to the wolves (hehe) could be a disaster — but it’s better to know one way or the other in January rather than May.

Who else?

A big reason I won’t give up on the Wolves is because… who else is there? Outside of Oklahoma City, which Western Conference team do you feel comfortable penciling in right now to win two playoff series?

Dallas… maybe? Memphis… maybe? Houston?

I’d hear the argument for each, but I’d rebuke with Minnesota

Minnesota hasn’t played its best basketball for more than three games at a time this year — and its one game out of the sixth seed in the West. A win like Friday night’s can be a sparkplug for a season. I’m dangerously close to believing this team has the goods after all.

Please don’t make me look dumb, Wolves!

What I’m Listening to: Songs: Ohia

I’ve made my decision. This is the greatest song ever recorded.