Timberwolves Tim Connelly knows his stuff and it shows

The Minnesota Timberwolves may not be fully healthy right now, but they certainly had enough to hard halt the hot-handed and incredibly talented Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of the NBA Play-In Tournament. And while the odds may have leaned towards a Timberwolves win at Target Center, I witnessed plenty of Oklahoma City Thunder vs Denver Nuggets scenarios before that Game 3 was even played.

While it was a do-or-die contest between both teams, it was clear from the onset that the Timberwolves were far better prepared to win in that pressure cooker. This was a team that did not rely on one player. Rather everyone seemed to step up and chip in.

One of the key reasons for the Timberwolves’ triumph is that last-minute decision to start wingman Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the sidekick acquired at the NBA Trade Deadline with PG Mike Conley Jr. and three second-round draft picks for PG D’Angelo Russell.

The Minnesota Timberwolves ran into a wall in the 2022 NBA Playoffs. While the Timberwolves certainly had some of the pieces, the roster was a bit dysfunctional in that there were too many players looking to score or to defend, but too few players who understood that their role consisted of both.

Timberwolves needed to take a chance

Thinking back, these Timberwolves struggled to finish off the Memphis Grizzlies in a best-of-seven series because the team either had the talent but lacked the experience to finish them off, or had the experience but lacked the talent to do so. The Timberwolves sat PG D’Angelo Russell at a time when he needed to show enough leadership to be on the basketball court. The Timberwolves turned to Patrick Beverley, who certainly possesses the in-your-face attitude, but who could not score enough points to start for the Timberwolves.

That Minnesota Timberwolves roster was only going to be good enough to get the team to the playoffs if the dominos fell the right way, and would not be enough if they didn’t. When the Minnesota Timberwolves hired President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly away from the Denver Nuggets, the goal was not ‘how do we win regular season games?’ whatsoever. The goal has always been to get to the NBA Playoffs, and then advance further each season.

If you haven’t been tracking the Minnesota Timberwolves components from their initial trade with the Utah Jazz, or the three-team trade at the NBA Trade Deadline in terms of NBA Play In Tournament production, let me fill in some blanks for you: