3 reasons Timberwolves won’t be pushovers in Game 5 of NBA Playoffs

Sure the Minnesota Timberwolves are down 1-3 in a best-of-seven series in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs against the best team in the NBA Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets. And it’s also a certainty that the Timberwolves will face those Nuggets in Denver for Game 5. In the two games in Denver, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been outscored 231 to 193. And of eight NBA quarters, the Timberwolves had managed to win one.

I don’t fault oddsmakers for giving the Denver Nuggets nearly a 10-point advantage over the Timberwolves for Tuesday night’s game.  I don’t even have a problem with the ESPN statisticians giving the Nuggets better than an 85 percent probability of winning at home.

I simply do not believe it.

The Minnesota Timberwolves may not be going anywhere in the NBA Playoffs this year. But that does not necessarily translate into them going home after Game 5. It may not be a series in Round 1 that has had the doors blown off of it. But some things have changed. What else should you expect in a game that is propelled as much by momentum as talent? How has this series changed?

Reason III: The Timberwolves have the sweet taste of success now

The Minnesota Timberwolves did more than get a desperation win in Game 4. And the Denver Nuggets, as much as winning at home seems like an ideal scenario, are not such a charitable team that they are willing to give away victories in the NBA Playoffs to sell tickets to one more game at home.

The Minnesota Timberwolves reached down deep into the heart of each player who stepped onto that basketball court to ask the defining question: Are you up to this challenge? By the time the overtime period had ended, the answer was a resounding yes.

One win. One moment. But now that these Timberwolves have had the sweet succulence of success, they want more. Likewise, the unstoppable Nuggernauts, have had their first brush with defeat. The Denver Nuggets can reach down themselves into the reservoir deep within and respond, or try to shake it off in disbelief. I believe that the media, the NBA pundits, and the oddsmakers, will persuade them to take the Timberwolves too lightly once again.