Timberwolves beat the only ones, still riding the edge of Razor in search of the 6th seed of West
MINNEAPOLIS – Throughout the season, these Minnesota Timberwolves have been a special type of exasperating. They are fully able to take on a siege to a team from Phoenix Suns who thought he was starting to find himself, flexing against the Denver Nuggets and going on tiptoe with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They are equally able to lose against the Washington Wizards, the Pelicans of New Orleans and a team from the Indiana Pacers who are missing four appetizers. Volatility has made it almost impossible to obtain a true reading of who I am while making a last minute push for a seed of top-six in the playoffs of the western conference.
All from the coach Chris Finch to Mike Conley to Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards had difficulty putting their finger on what this team appears and what can be done to level violent oscillations from powerful to painful. So Rudy Gobert stopped in front of his locker on Friday evening after one of his most dominant performances of the season and exploited the psyche of a team that was so difficult to understand.
“We are our greatest opponent,” said Gobert after scoring 17 points, 13 rebounds, four thefts and a blockage in Minnesota’s 124-109 victory over Phoenix on Friday evening. “We become a little complacent. When people start saying that we are good and when the probability are with us, that’s then that we are not good.”
No box. No problem 🤯 🤯 pic.twitter.com/t0uqh0funy
– Minnesota Timberwolves (@timberwolves) March 29, 2025
Gobert looked back to the race in the playoffs last season. The wolves entered the first round against these same losers themselves after Phoenix managed them during the regular season. Minnesota swept only With ease. So they went to the second round against the reigning champion Nuggets with few who expect them to win. What followed was The greatest return In a game 7 in the history of the playoffs.
He also considered what happened to the wolves when prosperity arrives. The 2-0 advantage against the Nugget, followed by three consecutive losses. Their first place in the finals of the Western Conference in 20 years, followed by a 4-1 drying at the hands of the Dallas Maverks. A winning series of eight games in March followed by three defeats in four games against the lower competition.
“We have gone through it in recent years, so we now know that it is only us, our approach,” said Gobert. “It does not only start for the tip of the game. At this moment, as we recover, the work we do tomorrow starts. We all know the things we have to do to be the best and we try to be consistent.”
This is probably the reason why there was little relief on Finch’s face after the game. He had spent the two days before challenging his players to rediscover the defensive tenacity he defines them, to show a damned competitiveness after being exhausted by the gym in Indiana, to behave as if they were fighting for the life of the playoffs because it is exactly what they have to do. Then he looked at his team to respond with emphasis against his favorite opponent, keeping the Suns at 45 points in the first half, overcoming them 43-34, inventing 12 stolen and suffocating Kevin Durant (7 for 19) and Devin Booker (4 by 14) all night.
It may have been a reason for celebration, for a post -agioco press conference excessively positive to praise the way his players dug in depth and handed over what he asked him. Instead, he challenged them again. He knows that this team has the talent of having evenings like this in a much more coherent way than they have this season. With eight games left in the regular season and wolves (42-32) sitting in eighth place, still half a game behind the Clippers (42-31) and Warriors (42-31), now or never.
“We have this in us. We saw it,” said Finch. “We have to see it all the time now. This is how we played, like more than one playoff urgency for what we were doing tonight, whether it is just to do it or a good performance on the game plan. I just have to continue to do it.”
Conley hit a similar tone. In his 18th season, he knows that there is not much time for him in his career. He knows he is part of a team that has the goods to be a monster in the playoffs. He also knows that they could lose twice in the game tournament and be made for the season.
“He is motivating and frustrating at the same time, honestly he is,” said Conley. “Why do you raise and think:” Why don’t we do it throughout the season? Why don’t we do every game? “
“But I think we have a lot of space to improve. This is the point of view that we are not yet the team we want to be, and we still have a couple of games to be done before hitting that playoff, and we hope we are reaching the peak at the moment.”
In so many ways, the only ones came at the perfect moment for Minnesota. The wolves had lost three out of four after that series of eight -games victories, dampening the mood just when things seemed to join. They needed a shock, something to raise them from the malaise that seemed to start during fainting.
The Wolves had three days of holidays that led to the game, some time needed to rest and refocal after a demoralizing and non -competitive loss in Indian Monday. Finch has held one of the most physical and in the face of the season on Wednesday, putting players in individual exercises against each other trying to inject one sort of spark. It was hand-a-man. Unlimited dribbling was given to the offensive player to try to score. If the defensive player gave up a bucket, he remained on the pitch to face the next man. He couldn’t leave until he stopped.
“You’re doing everything you can. Scratch, claw, boxo, fight, push,” said Conley. “It is important to recover that fire. We had a lot of the one in progress (Wednesday).”
The practice included a film session without river, a possibility for each player to see how petty had been in the last week. Then came The Suns, a team that always seems to bring out the best in wolves. And it happened so that Marc Davis was head of the crew for the referees on Friday evening, and his crews have a story of letting the teams play, who played in the desire for Finch to show more physicality and tenacity.
Gobert gave the tone to the defense, crushing the small frontcourt of Phoenix and resembling much more to the defensive player of the year in which it was last season than he sometimes has during this frustrating season. Randle was also an integral part, scoring 10 points in the first four minutes to help the wolves avoid another slow start. He finished with 25 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
Giulio with 10 points in 4 minutes 😮😮 pic.twitter.com/5dmwhx9koj
– Minnesota Timberwolves (@timberwolves) March 29, 2025
Jaden McDaniels insists that there is nothing special in going against the Suns, but interprets Booker with such a contempt in defense that one might think that Booker is wrong to McDaniels in a past life. Booker lost his first eight shots, he did not score until 3:33 remained in the third quarter and ended with 10 points and four turnover in 39 minutes. Every step he took, McDaniels was right there, sneaking, contesting and shaking a supreme marker.
“I thought Jaden was very special tonight tonight, defensively,” said Finch. “We need more. We just have to continue doing it.”
However, this sequence 🔥 pic.twitter.com/eee1cwejro
– Minnesota Timberwolves (@timberwolves) March 29, 2025
McDaniels also made impossible impossible in the first half when he blocked a turnaround sweater from Durant in the lane. KD has made a career in tormenting the defenders with a high version on his sweater that makes it so difficult to block. But McDaniels has almost as much as Durant’s arms, and has tracked down the shot from before Durant still has high.
Jaden McDaniels blocks Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/ma3piljopu
– Timberwolves clip (@wolvesclips) March 29, 2025
“You just have to be in front of him,” said McDaniels, who also scored 16 points in the shooting of 6 by 10. “And I was lucky, I imagine. Rarely block the jump blows, therefore, I mean, it’s difficult.”
Everything will be difficult for the Timberwolves along the stretch. They got to this position. They want to enter the first six so that they can have a week to prepare for their opponent in the first round and must not worry about the fickle nature of the play-in tournament. Sitting on the edge of the razor could be the place where this team has to live. They don’t show their best until they absolutely have to do it.
One of the reasons why the wolves seem to play so well, said Gobert, it was the respect they have for Durant and Booker. If they do not bring him to the defensive, they know that they will be embarrassed by two of the most creative shots of the game.
“We play our peak when we have a level of almost fear,” said Gobert. “A little fear, a little urgency, that survival instinct. When we play with that, we are really, really good. There is no one who cannot beat when we play that way. It is a question of finding a way to have it every night.”
Detroit’s pistons are the next, Sunday, and could be without stars Cunningham falls, which is fighting a calf injury. Then comes a trip to five games. They cannot lean on natural rivalries to transport them. That sweat heel prepare to play sun, pepper or thunder will have to be there against the nets, the Sixer and the dollars.
“We play these teams in the playoffs, you know them so well, often comes a little bad blood and becomes a little more personal,” said Finch. “I certainly know that some of our kids take it in this way, and we see it in the results. But every game must be personal about what we are trying to do here.”
(Photo: David Berding/Getty Images)
