On his The Hoops Collective podcast, Brian Windhorst recently spoke with Tim MacMahon and Tim Bontemps about NBA title contenders. When they got to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Windhorst had this to say,
"A team that is hiding as an elite team, but not always playing as an elite team, is Minnesota. You saw what Ant did in the All-Star game, the guy is incredible. Minnesota has had some baffling performances this year. They have looked tremendous at times, they have looked ridiculous at times. They were a team that last year right about this time were in about the same spot, and then they hit the turbo down the stretch of the season and ended up in the conference finals."
Minnesota’s post-All-Star break run begins on Friday at the Target Center when they take on the Dallas Mavericks. Can they have a similar ending stretch of awesome basketball as they did last year?
Went on a nice run to end last season
Windhorst is somewhat correct in stating that Minnesota was about in the same spot as they were last year. They entered last season’s All-Star break at 31-25, seventh-best in the Western Conference. They have a better record this season (34-22) but are just one slot higher in sixth.
Of course, we know that the Wolves overcame that somewhat middling first 56 games last season and reached the conference finals. After the All-Star break, they went 18-8 to end their regular season schedule (including 16-4 in the last 20 games).
A comparable ending stretch this year could catapult the Timberwolves to third in the conference. Seeds 3-6 are extremely tight, with Minnesota currently just 1.5 games behind the third-seeded Denver Nuggets.
Windhorst is pointing out a fact that the consistency hasn’t been fully there this year from the team. They had two end-of-game meltdown losses in November to the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings. They’ve lost to bottom feeders like the Utah Jazz and Brooklyn Nets (as well as the Kings). Minnesota is also 2-1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, teams that have the two best records in the Western Conference.
The Timberwolves also rank fifth in offensive rating (118.9) and sixth in defensive rating (113.1), via Cleaning the Glass. Being inside the top-10 in both usually puts that team in title contention.
Adding Ayo Dosunmu at the trade deadline has only strengthened the team. While not the prohibitive favorite, there is a world where the Timberwolves can go on a run that results in the franchise’s first championship.