Minnesota Timberwolves middle Rudy Gobert, proper, is fouled by Nuggets ahead Aaron Gordon, middle, as Denver ahead Michael Porter Jr. defends within the second half of Recreation 7 of an NBA second-round playoff sequence , Sunday in Denver. (AP picture)
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Minnesota Timberwolves middle Rudy Gobert, proper, is fouled by Nuggets ahead Aaron Gordon, middle, as Denver ahead Michael Porter Jr. defends within the second half of Recreation 7 of an NBA second-round playoff sequence , Sunday in Denver. (AP picture)
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Minnesota Timberwolves middle Karl-Anthony Cities reacts after being referred to as for a foul within the second half of Recreation 7 of an NBA second-round playoff sequence towards the Nuggets on Sunday in Denver. (AP picture)
DENVER — The Minnesota Timberwolves reached the Western Convention finals brimming with expertise, confidence and tenacity after staging the most important Recreation 7 comeback for the reason that NBA started monitoring play-by-play information 28 years in the past.
The Wolves trailed the Denver Nuggets by 15 factors at halftime Sunday evening and by 20 factors per minute within the third quarter.
With the gang rocking the Ball Area, the Timberwolves didn't flinch. They doubled down on their scoring protection and roared again for essentially the most monumental win within the franchise's 35-year historical past.
They did it behind a fantastic transition recreation and an unflappable famous person in Anthony Edwards for a shocking 98-90 victory over the defending NBA champions.
The Wolves face Dallas beginning Wednesday evening at Goal Middle.
Minnesota Timberwolves middle Karl-Anthony Cities reacts after being referred to as for a foul within the second half of Recreation 7 of an NBA second-round playoff sequence towards the Nuggets on Sunday in Denver. (AP picture)
The Wolves have missed the playoffs 16 occasions within the final 17 years, solely reaching the primary spherical in 2018.
Issues began to show round after they drafted Edwards no. 1 in 2020. They returned to the postseason celebration the next 12 months, shedding to Memphis within the 1st spherical.
After hiring head coach Chris Finch from Michael Malone's workers in Denver, the Timberwolves employed Nuggets architect Tim Connelly, who constructed the Wolves explicitly to unseat his former group in Denver.
Connelly's first main transfer was a daring takeover of Rudy Gobert that was as dangerous because it was unconventional — sending 5 gamers and 5 picks to Utah for the star quarterback — however going large was half essential a part of this breakthrough season for the Timberwolves.
“I believe when Tim Connelly made the commerce, all people was laughing at him, like, 'What's he doing?' However he made a fantastic group” Nuggets middle Nikola Jokic stated when this streak began.
Jokic and the defending NBA champions knew that lengthy earlier than they misplaced their semifinal sequence in such humiliating trend to a group like theirs that was largely assembled beneath Connelly.
As Jokic famous Sunday evening, Connelly's deep and versatile roster can adapt to any model, meet any problem and, because it confirmed Sunday evening, overcome the longest odds.
The Timberwolves' resolve was strengthened a 12 months in the past after they entered the playoffs with a short-handed group that was shortly dispatched by Denver in 5 video games in Spherical 1.
Fueled by that disappointment, the Wolves received 56 video games this 12 months, fielded the league's greatest protection and led the Western Convention for many of the season earlier than ending one recreation behind Oklahoma Metropolis and Denver for high seed no.
The Wolves made certain seeding didn't matter.
After dispatching the Phoenix Suns in 4 video games, marking their first playoff sweep in franchise historical past, the Wolves weren't fazed by the Nuggets' 20-5 playoff document over the previous two years or their career-best 36- eight within the Western Convention. dwelling document this season.
The Wolves have received 3 times in 4 video games on the Ball Area. They took Video games 1 and a couple of in Denver earlier than shedding three in a row. Going through elimination, they bounced again with a 115-70 demolition of the Nuggets in Recreation 6, the biggest victory over a defending champion in NBA historical past.
And so they adopted that win with an epic Recreation 7 comeback.
“The streak has been wild and this recreation was only a microcosm of the complete streak.” Finch stated.
Cities and Jaden McDaniels every scored 23 factors within the clincher. Edwards completed with 16 factors, eight rebounds and 7 assists, with most of his contributions coming in Minnesota's surgical 60-37 second-half rout of the Nuggets, which bought 35 factors from Jamal Murray and 34 from Joke.
Subsequent up are the fifth-seeded Mavericks, who clinched their second convention championship in three years. They misplaced to eventual champion Golden State in 5 video games in 2022, however that was earlier than Luka Doncic had Kyrie Irving as his companion.
The Wolves received three of 4 towards Dallas within the common season, with the Mavs successful the one recreation wherein Doncic and Irving each performed. Dallas was with out each stars for each Minnesota losses.
“Actually, I believe for us, we're so joyful for this second, we are able to't even take into consideration the following second.” The cities stated.
“I'm fascinated by this,” Edwards interrupted playfully.
“I’ll say for us, if we proceed to play Timberwolves basketball, we're going to unravel plenty of issues that we are able to have with that group and what they do greatest.” Advised cities. “So so long as we're enjoying Timberwolves basketball, I like our probabilities.”
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This story has been corrected to point out the Wolves received three of 4 towards Dallas within the common season.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA