The Minnesota Timberwolves are up 1-0 in their Western Conference semifinals series against the San Antonio Spurs by eking out a 104-102 victory on Monday. The main storylines after the game, of course, are the return of Anthony Edwards and holding Victor Wembanyama to 5-for-17 shooting.
Coming into the matchup as huge underdogs to advance, there were multiple heroes for the Wolves in a game that few expected them to win. One of those is the 38-year-old Mike Conley.
It was a strong performance in Game 1, but with the schedule set up to mostly play every other day, can the 19-year veteran keep it up for the rest of the series?
Conley has played much better than he did in last year's playoffs
Taking a look at the schedule for the Timberwolves/Spurs matchup, there is just one day off between each game, other than the two days off between Games 5 and 6 (if necessary). While the talking point with that is mostly around if Edwards is getting enough time to rest his knee(s), it also will be interesting to see how not having longer breaks before contests will affect an older player like Conley.
Game 1 was all that the Timberwolves could ask for from Conley. Playing 24 minutes, the 2021 All-Star finished with 12 points that all came via the 3-point ball (4-for-7 from deep, 0-for1 inside of the arc).
Conley also did what he does best which is take care of the ball. Bite Bite dished out six assists, didn’t turn it over once, and the team was a plus-13 in his minutes.
It didn’t exactly start off great for Conley, who was taken out just over five minutes into the outing for the returning Ant-Man. Conley missed both of his 3-point tries in his first stint, and the team had only eight points when he exited.
Without Conley, it’s hard to say that Minnesota prevails in Game 1. Can he continue to be such an asset? He may not need to play 24 minutes each game, if Ayo Dosunmu can soon return from a right calf injury that has kept him out for the last two playoff contests. That would likely return Conley to a reserve role, if the team inserts Edwards back into the starting lineup.
Throughout the regular season, fans wondered why Conley kept getting so much playing time despite a lack of shooting accuracy. This was coming off the heels of a 2025 postseason in which he barely made more than 30 percent of his field goal tries. This year’s playoffs has been a great improvement in accuracy as he has now made 7 of his 15 attempts from 3-point distance.
In late March, Finch said that it “feels like a crime against humanity” to not play Conley, who was out of the rotation at the time. With the way he’s playing, Finch doesn’t have to experience that feeling anymore.
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