May 31, 2004.
The Los Angeles Lakers are leading the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-85 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals at the Staples Center. Wolves forward and reigning NBA MVP Kevin Garnett fouls out with 19.4 seconds remaining in the game. A few Lakers’ free throws seals it, and Minnesota’s season comes to a close with a 96-90 loss.
It was the furthest the struggling franchise had ever gotten in the playoffs – and a moment that gave its fanbase hope.
“I just remember just being so excited,” recalled Nathan Lind, who’s been a Timberwolves fan since the franchise joined the NBA in 1989. “It seemed like (it) was our year. Absolutely. You know, we had the best record in the league. We had the MVP of the league on our team. The team was playing especially well.”
The Wolves had finished the regular season that year with a 58-24 record – its best ever – and made it all the way to the conference finals for the first time after seven straight first-round playoff exits.
The future seemed bright, but rather than propelling the Wolves to more postseason success, that loss to the Lakers marked the start of a 13-year postseason drought.
Indeed, a full two decades would pass until Minnesota reached this moment – a second Western Conference Finals appearance, this time the foe being the Dallas Mavericks in the best-of-seven series.
Wolves fan James Charles, a Minneapolis resident for the past eight years, lived in San Francisco when the Golden State Warriors won their first title. He sees some parallels between that championship team and this year’s Minnesota club.
“Early on in that playoff run, you knew that the team was different,” he said of the Warriors. “(This) is a very similar feeling. The biggest X factor is (Karl-Anthony Towns). They don’t have anyone that can guard him. And if he plays the way he did in the last round, we will absolutely win.”
Brad Weier, a longtime Wolves fan from Queensland, Australia, said, “Thinking about it now, thinking about this team and thinking about the journey (as a Wolves fan) from 1992 to 2024 does, indeed, bring all sorts of emotions to the fore. I could not be prouder of everyone associated with this team, the local media and podcasters, and the fans. We deserve this.”
It hasn’t been a smooth journey.
A few years after that fateful loss to the Lakers, ahead of the 2007-08 season, Minnesota traded Garnett to the Boston Celtics, where he captured his lone NBA title in his first year there.
The Wolves then traded for Kevin Love during the 2008 NBA draft. He became an All-NBA player during his six-year tenure with Minnesota, but the team was unable to reach the postseason. Love would leave for Cleveland and capture a title alongside LeBron James and a then young Kyrie Irving, now a star on the Dallas roster.
Hard-driving coach Tom Thibodeau’s pairing with All-Star Jimmy Butler also brought some hope to the franchise, though a playoff berth in 2018 ended in another early exit.
Now here the Wolves are in the NBA’s Final Four.
“It was hard to get tickets, so I’m excited to be there and be in the building,” Wolves superfan Maggie Schultz said. “My first time being able to watch a conference finals live. I’m super excited … Ready to be there in person.”
One big reason for the team’s success, of course, was the acquisition of enigmatic talent Anthony Edwards, drafted by the Wolves with the first pick in the 2020 NBA draft after the team finished the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season with a paltry 19-45 record.
Minnesota missed its first postseason after acquiring Edwards but finally broke through in his second season after finishing the regular season with a 46-36 record. The Memphis Grizzlies took down the Wolves in six games in the first round.
More help arrived during the following offseason when the Wolves acquired then-three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert – as well as Mike Conley and Nickel Alexander-Walker, all key pieces on this year’s team. Minnesota went 42-40 last season before bowing out to the Denver Nuggets in five games in the playoffs.
Armed with the same core rotation of players, the Wolves finished this regular season with 56 wins, swept the Phoenix Suns in the opening round of the playoffs and rallied to beat the Nuggets in Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinals.
The first two games of the series with Dallas are at Target Center, but fans without a ticket will be able to attend several watch parties across the Twin Cities. Falling Knife Brewing Co., Surly Brewing Co., Wabasha Brewing Co., Bald Man Brewing Co., Tom’s Watch Bar, Park Tavern, Riverview Theater and Treasure Island Casino are among the local establishments welcoming fans for Game 1 reverie.
Robert Galfinkle, who moved to Minneapolis from Washington, D.C. in 1992, said watching the Wolves come together has been “the most exciting sports fan experience I think I’ve had in my 66 years.”
He added: “This team feels like the best chemistry, the most authentic growth into a team. It’s just really fabulous to watch them come together and make each other better … I’ve been watching sports all my life and this is my favorite team to watch.”
Chris Meglio
Chris is a reporting intern with MinnPost.
