After everyone wrote them off, the Timberwolves have yet again made it to the Western Conference Finals and their coach set out a clear message for the season.
“The challenge we laid down to our guys from day one was quite simple,” Finch said after the Wolves’ 121-110 closeout win over the Warriors. “It was one question: ‘Were you a Western Conference finals team, or were you a team that just happened to make the Western Conference finals?’ And there’s only one way to prove that: Go out and do it again. And that was our mission all year.”
Rudy Gobert was a big contributor in the closeout game (17 points on 8-for-9 shooting, 8 rebounds), as he was in round one against the Lakers, and he can see how much the team has grown since their WCF defeat last year.
“After a win like we had last year against Denver in Game 7, I felt like you get the whole world praising you,” Gobert said. “All the sudden, you went from being the underdog to being the favorite. The way we weren’t mature enough to handle that yet. We were aware of it. This year, we’re mature enough.”
If they play OKC or the Nuggets in the next round, the Timberwolves will find themselves in a familiar position for Games 1 and 2 – underdogs. Which is no problem, Donte DiVincenzo says.
“Our mentality going in was nobody expected us to beat the Lakers, no one expected us to beat the Warriors,” DiVincenzo said. “So our expectation going in was just stick together and we know that no one is going to pick us, and we’re fine with that.”
Edwards said, “There is no satisfaction. We just got here. We haven’t [done] anything yet.”
