The win — and the role of swingman Andrew Wiggins in securing it — ratified the maturing legitimacy of the team’s cornerstones.

For those willing to look more closely, Rubio has in fact been improving as a shooter for most of this season. 

To paraphrase a cliché from postseason tournaments, the Timberwolves need to understand that the prevailing mood among the faithful is, “win or go away.”

How a kid from Canada became the quintessential Minnesotan.

A little review and reorientation seems in order for the final 28 games of the season, the 12th in row where Minnesota will fail to qualify for the playoffs. 

The long-term future has never looked better for the Wolves. But the stakes have also never been higher.

When it comes to the Wolves’ fortunes, Karl-Anthony Towns may be the future. But Andrew Wiggins is the guy already more than holding his own.

The NBA has become a league that increasingly features athletic wing players, which the Wolves have in abundance. And yet the team can’t seem to get out of its own way. 

How does the franchise pivot to get the best possible short-term and long-term value from their soon-to-be superstar?

How did such a young, promising roster, without any major injuries to deter it, suddenly find itself in the dregs of dysfunction?

The second part of an on-the-record, 65-minute conversation with the Timberwolves coach. 

In the summer of 2014, the Wolves were a franchise plagued by exhaustion. Just eighteen months later, they are the envy of downtrodden franchises everywhere.

At a time when the Eastern Conference has unexpectedly arisen to parity, trying to get a relative fix on the Timberwolves relative to the rest of the NBA  is not so easy.

Taking a 1-8 pratfall during the soft part of the schedule is why at least some are asking: ‘What is wrong?’

Coach Sam Mitchell has earned the right to prove whether the path he is charting for this team is the right one.