The T-Wolves need a miraculous winning streak to reach the post-season.
We waited sixty-seven games for it – the winning streak that would build momentum, the game that would lend the inspiration, the turning point that would save the season. We waited for it, and it never came. For sixty-seven games we survived on a hope that something would fix this unexpected mess. We held our heads high as the Wolves lowered in the standings, confident that our hope would come true. As the months passed, we slowly conceded the number one seed in the West, the Northwest Division title, and finally home court advantage. But the hope continued to keep our spirits raised, even when the Wolves were locked in a virtual three-way tie with the Lakers and Nuggets for the final playoff spot in the West. It wouldn’t even let us imagine the Wolves failing to make the post-season. As the losses continued to mount, that hope kept lulling us to sleep, telling us that all we needed was to reach that turning point, and everything would be ok.
Last Friday night, that hope was replaced by fear.
After that loss to the Grizzlies, it seemed as if the Timberwolves nation finally received a memo that had been delivered a few weeks too late. It was a message warning us that the season’s end was swiftly approaching, the Denver Nuggets were quietly surging, and the Timberwolves play needed to be vastly improving if the team wanted to make the playoffs for a ninth consecutive year. I don’t know why no one really noticed until after the damage was done in Memphis. Maybe we were too content to be comforted by our hope to face the harshness of reality. Maybe we were too distracted looking towards the future to notice the peril that we faced in the present. Either way, we all woke up Saturday morning to some disturbing facts. There were fifteen games left in the season. The Wolves trailed the Nuggets by four games in the loss column. The Nuggets were playing extremely well. And suddenly, it seemed as if everyone had finally put all the pieces together and reached the same solemn conclusion. If the Wolves were going to make the playoffs, then the turnaround had to begin – today.
Those feeling generous have said that the Timberwolves would mostly likely need to go 13-2 in those final fifteen games in order to lock up that final playoff seed. I said that it was going to take 14-1. At the time, the team was 33-34 and coming off two horrific losses. There was hardly any reason to think this team would finish above .500, let alone reel off the greatest run in the history of the franchise. Those who hadn’t already written off the Wolves started looking forward to the off-season. Those faithful few who still couldn’t give up started looking for a miracle.
The reality is that like that elusive turning point, that miracle is never going to come. There isn’t going to be some mystical moment when a divine force is going to overtake the Timberwolves locker room and start putting the ball in the basket and helping out on defense. If the Wolves are going to make this run and save this season, they can’t spend their time waiting for that miracle. They have to become that miracle. They have to stop looking for that inspiring moment that marks a turnaround. They have to turn around.
Over the past three games, the Wolves have responded to that memo loud and clear. They have held a twenty point lead in each of them. They have come storming out of the gate and pouncing on their opponents early; a stark contrast to their usual habit of hanging around until the fourth quarter and hoping to turn it on. They finally look like the Timberwolves that we’ve all been waiting to see.
Maybe this latest run is too little, too late for you. Maybe you feel that this season has shattered your dreams and crushed your spirit, and you just want it to end. Maybe you’re afraid that if you start to believe, you’ll just have your heart broken once again. And maybe you’re right. This latest “turnaround” could end up being smoke and mirrors like all the ones before it. This team could very well be headed for the ninth spot no matter how well they play. Maybe your right and you’re saving yourself some unnecessary frustration by just calling it quits right now. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll be missing out on the finest moment in this franchises history. Maybe you’ll be robbing yourself of the “Minnesota Miracle”.
I still believe that there isn’t a team in this league that can match the Timberwolves in pure talent. As a result, I don’t feel it’s unrealistic to believe that if this team utilizes that talent and makes it a point to play with energy and focus, they can win all of their remaining games. This team doesn’t need a “miracle”. What this team needs is exactly what this team already has. This is “Our Team”. This is “Our Time”. All we’ve got is each other. All we have is this moment. And if this team decides to finally make the most of them, then we’re all about to experience an ending that is truly “miraculous”.
