The Minnesota Timberwolves took home a season-opening victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night with a 118-114 win at Moda Center. Wolves fans were treated to a mind-blowing 41-point performance from Anthony Edwards, but it was the way in which Minnesota handled adversity as a team that served as the larger overall takeaway.
If the way the Timberwolves banded together to bring home a win on Wednesday night was any indication of how they're going to behave for the majority of the regular season, the fan base could be in store for something truly special. It was far from a perfect performance from the road team, and although Minnesota could have easily folded in this situation as we have seen them do before, they reversed what had been a negative trend in the past to come up with the big win, and to start the season 1-0.
Over the course of the last several seasons, we have seen this Wolves team, regardless of personnel, exhibit a level of frustration and sometimes even panic in crunch time situations. Oftentimes this has looked like being down by a few points in the final quarter of play and looking a bit rushed in their process, forcing shots on offense and making the game more difficult for themselves.
The Timberwolves looked much more composed than in years past
Against Portland, we saw the Timberwolves avoid falling into this same trap that so many fans have become familiar with seeing. There may have been a bad shot or two mixed in, but Minnesota largely played with poise and stayed collected down the stretch as a unit.
And it's not like they did this against a team that didn't have every motivation to make a statement. The Trail Blazers are a young, up and coming squad that would have loved to stick a fork in their Western Conference rival that has advanced to the Conference Finals in each of the last two postseasons.
This could have very easily been a trap game that the Timberwolves ended up losing in their first contest of the season. But thanks to some improved processes from both the players and the coaching staff, they appear to be taking on a new identity. This is indicative of the kind of mental toughness you have to have if you truly want to have championship aspirations.