No more pretending, no more being the laughingstock, the Timberwolves and KAT have arrived (2024)

DENVER — As he stood in triumph, having just put the finishing touches on one of the greatest comebacks in NBA playoff history, Karl-Anthony Towns gazed into the Ball Arena seats, which were filled with so many Minnesota Timberwolves fans.

They came from all over the globe for the biggest game in franchise history, flying in from Japan or Minneapolis, driving from all over the Midwest or just walking from a nearby apartment to get there in time for the showdown with the defending champions. Now here they were, together, somehow commandeering an entire section of an enemy arena near the Timberwolves bench for Game 7 of this wildly volatile Western Conference semifinal series.

When it was all over, when the Wolves had erased a 20-point deficit with less than 11 minutes to play in the third quarter to shock the MVP and the favorites to win the West, Towns grabbed the game ball and walked toward the section filled with hundreds of friendly faces.

They locked eyes, the oft-criticized All-Star and the long-suffering fans, and they may as well have been looking in a mirror. Their faces were reflections of each other, telling the story of a player who has been under scrutiny forever, who has been belittled and discounted, and a fan base that has been mocked and ridiculed for their allegiance to a team that so rarely rewards their faith.

At that moment with the scoreboard reading 98-90 and their first trip to the Western Conference finals in 20 years secured, Towns basked in the euphoria. He thought about how far he has come in the league, and how much he and the fans have endured to get to this point.

“I’ve been here nine years, talked about wanting to win and do something special here for the organization,” Towns said. “All of the failures and all the things that materialized and happened, the disappointment that comes with it led to this moment.”

Towns has done a lot of talking since he’s been here, promising to deliver championships, saying he watches videos of gorillas fighting in the jungle to amp him up and occasionally getting a little too excited on a podcast and comparing Play-In Tournament appearances to title runs.

Last season, after missing most of training camp with an illness, he pounded his fist on a podium before the season started and proclaimed it was time for the Timberwolves to win a title. What followed was a frustrating, injury-plagued season that ended with a first-round exit. All of it was well-intentioned, but there were so many versions of “no, this time we’re really ready to win,” that it took on the feeling of the boy who cried wolf.

The fans did the same thing. First, it was hoping that Al Jefferson was a worthy centerpiece in the Kevin Garnett trade to Boston. Then it was Kevin Love’s rebounding and 3-point shooting that was going to return their team to relevance. Ricky Rubio, Andrew Wiggins, D’Angelo Russell, Jimmy Butler and Towns were all players who fans talked themselves into as franchise saviors.

Seventeen years after trading Garnett, 20 years after their lone previous trip to the Western Conference finals, Towns and these fans are no longer crying wolf. The wolf is here.

With Towns playing the most mature, composed basketball of his career, Anthony Edwards ascending to superstar status, Rudy Gobert manning the middle and Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid all providing timely contributions, the Timberwolves are headed back to the conference finals.

They are doing so thanks to a dramatic dethroning of the reigning champions on Sunday night. The Wolves posted the largest comeback in a Game 7 in NBA playoff history and became the first team to win a series after winning the first two on the road and then losing the next three games.

“I just want these guys to understand,” an exhausted Conley said after soaking his ankles in an ice bath. “I don’t think they understand what they just did. Accomplishing what they have and getting to the West Conference finals is a great opportunity. Don’t take it for granted.”

How could anyone with Wolves gear take this for granted? This is just the second time in the franchise’s 35 seasons that the team has made it to the doorstep of the NBA Finals. The Wolves have almost as many 60-loss seasons (nine) as they do playoff appearances (12). Towns has played for seven general managers and five head coaches in his nine seasons.

When it was suggested in the postgame news conference that making it this far this “quickly” was uncommon because a team normally has to lose on the big stage first before breaking through, KAT’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

“We lost the last two years,” Edwards said.

Added Towns: “How many times we got to lose? How much you want us to lose? We’ve been losing for 20 years.”

Not anymore. Now their path forward isn’t filled with doom, but perhaps destiny. Serendipity has rarely smiled on the Timberwolves in their 35 seasons of existence, but it was beaming in their direction on Sunday. The NBA typically wants teams to avoid using throwback jerseys in the playoffs. But the Timberwolves got a waiver to wear them for Game 6, and after blasting the Nuggets by 45 points to even the series at 3-3, they were granted permission to wear them again.

May 19 is the 20th anniversary of their thrilling, clinching victory over the Sacramento Kings in the second round of the 2004 playoffs, the only other time the team has played in a Game 7. That game stood for two decades as the apex of this franchise. Kevin Garnett went for 32 points, 21 rebounds, five blocks and four steals, on his birthday no less.

Garnett is estranged from the organization due to a falling out with owner Glen Taylor, but he has adopted these young Wolves, taking to their defensive tenacity and toughness.

“To MY YOUNG WOLVESSSSSSS.. Be Wolvvvvvesss.. Be together… BE GREAT TODAY,” KG posted on Instagram.

They played with his take-no-prisoners attitude in the second half. The Wolves trailed 53-38 at halftime after one of the worst offensive displays of their season. Edwards (1 of 7), Conley (1 of 7), Rudy Gobert (0 of 3) and Alexander-Walker (0 of 5) were a combined 2 of 22 for 10 points, Nikola Jokić grabbed 15 rebounds and Jamal Murray was lighting it up with 24 points at the break.

Towns and Jaden McDaniels kept the game from getting completely out of control by combining for 26 points. That bought the Wolves enough time for the cavalry to show up in the second half, but the mountain to climb was still steep. Before Sunday, teams had been 21-0 when leading by at least 15 points at halftime of a Game 7.

When Gobert missed a layup at the start of the third and Murray swished a 3, the Nuggets led 58-38 with 10 minutes to play in the quarter. Conley and McDaniels got 3s to fall during a 15-1 run and Edwards came alive with a pair of steals and dunks and a wicked stepback 3 just before the third-quarter buzzer that pulled Minnesota within one at 67-66.

HUGE 3 TO CLOSE THE THIRD. 💥 pic.twitter.com/iI2aLbkwes

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 20, 2024

The Wolves stayed aggressive to start the fourth, even after Towns had to go to the bench with his fifth foul. Reid, who had played poorly in the first three quarters, ignited with eight points, three rebounds and two blocks of Jokić while filling in.

🗣️ 6MOTY

🗣️ 6MOTY

🗣️ 6MOTY pic.twitter.com/HtCGtqwBe0

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 20, 2024

As it became clear that Jokić, who had just four boards in the second half, and the Nuggets were out of gas, the Wolves smelled blood in the water. With “Let’s Go Wolves!” chants starting to ring through Ball Arena, Gobert hit a preposterous turnaround jump shot to beat the shot clock, Reid sneaked in for a putback slam, the 36-year-old Conley won a jump ball against Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reid fed Edwards for a corner 3 that gave the Wolves a 10-point lead with three minutes to play.

The Wolves bench erupted, and the anticipation grew to the point that coach Chris Finch stood on the sideline for the remaining three minutes, ruptured patellar tendon be damned. Standing up gave Finch a better view of the demons being exorcized.

“Everybody talks about the last 30 years, which means nothing to me. But it does mean a lot to a lot of people to see this team, root for this team,” Finch said. “The city is behind this team. And to beat a team like Denver on their home floor the way we did, of course, it was going to mean a lot.”

Then came the dagger. The Nuggets made one last-gasp effort, cutting the deficit to five points in the final minute. Conley threw up a wild layup that was off the mark, and Denver could’ve been in business with one more rebound. But Towns swooped in and threw down a big dunk to seal it.

THE EXCLAMATION POINT. pic.twitter.com/4Hk1xvCmX5

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 20, 2024

It was a fitting end, the player who has been here the longest delivering the final blow. Towns finished with 23 points, tying him with McDaniels for the team-high, and 12 rebounds. He has now guarded Kevin Durant and Jokić in successive series and has been front and center in this deep playoff run.

“I couldn’t be more happy and proud for him,” Finch said. “Just because I think he’s faced a lot of unfair criticism when it comes to the postseason at times. But the more you go through these things, the more experience you have and the more at peace you are.”

As he soaked in the scene, reveling with the fans, Towns thought about the previous nine years, about being drafted No. 1 overall in 2015 and then losing the man who chose him, Flip Saunders, to lymphoma before his rookie season even started. He thought about being a darling of the league early in his career, an NBA Rookie of the Year winner and a player twice chosen by the league’s general managers as the one they would choose to build around if they were starting a team from scratch. He thought about how that early adoration quickly faded when the losses started mounting, and how no amount of scoring, rebounding or All-Star nominations could be enough to pull the Timberwolves out of a vicious cycle of front office and coaching turnover.

Towns also must have thought, ever so briefly, about the damage Butler inflicted upon his reputation during a tumultuous season in Minnesota. And how when Butler left, he branded Towns and the Timberwolves as forever losers, softies incapable of summoning the toughness needed to compete at the highest level.

The fans were guilty by association. Foolish for devoting energy and resources to following a team that could never get out of its own way with a star player prone to bickering with officials and putting up big stats that did not lead to winning. But isn’t that where toughness is reallymeasured?

Towns could have asked for a trade a long time ago. The fans could have given up entirely on this franchise after being kicked in the teeth as many times as they have. There have been times when both probably contemplated it long and hard. There have been times when they have not seen eye to eye. That just made the moment they shared on Sunday night that much sweeter.

“The fans have been waiting for this moment, and this team has brought them this moment, so it’s up to us now to capitalize on this moment and opportunity and be the best team that we can be and play Timberwolves basketball,” Towns said.

For so long, Timberwolves basketball was not something to be proud of, but something to apologize for. So many players, coaches and executives have come through the doors at Target Center promising to bring the Timberwolves back. So many of them failed in the past 20 years.

These Wolves are different. They have home-court advantage in the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks with Game 1 set for 7:30 p.m. (CT) Wednesday. They cannot be discounted anymore. They cannot be ignored. They cannot be belittled. After years of talking, pretending and tricking everyone into believing, it is finally true.

The Wolf is here.

(Top photo of Karl-Anthony Towns: C. Morgan Engel / Getty Images)