April is upon us which means the highest stakes in the sport of basketball have arrived. Beating anyone in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs is a tall task, no matter the seed, status, or record a team boasts. Every single franchise simply shows up to play their hearts out on basketball’s biggest stage. We will experience the unimaginable and unpredictable throughout these next few months and it all starts with the Western Conference. The West was one of the tightest affairs in recent basketball history throughout the regular season. Teams would fluctuate through multiple seeds every single day. The gap from the first-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder to the tenth-seeded (last play-in tournament spot) Golden State Warriors is only eleven games. To put that number in perspective, we can pan over to the Eastern Conference where the gap between the first-seeded Boston Celtics and second-seeded New York Knicks is a whopping fourteen games. So essentially, in the West, anyone can beat anyone on any given day. This makes the level of difficulty in predicting Western Conference playoff matchups extremely high. In particular, it’s clear that the series between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns has caught many eyes.
Going into the series, the sixth-seeded Phoenix Suns are favorites by a decent margin boasting -134 odds compared to Minnesota’s +114 odds. The Suns swept the season series against the Timberwolves, so at initial glance it seems as if it’s a favorable matchup for Phoenix. However, it’s going to be a completely different story in the playoffs.
Minnesota has failed to win a playoff series since the year 2004 when Kevin Garnett led a lethal team to the Western Conference Finals. This twenty-year drought is tied for the longest with the likes of the Charlotte Hornets and Sacramento Kings. This makes the stakes even higher for Minnesota which, in my opinion, is a helpful factor more than a harmful one. The Wolves are on a hunt and they’re ready to eat.
On top of that, despite Phoenix’s winning record against Minnesota this season, I believe that this matchup is favorable for the Timberwolves. The Suns have attempted to go the “super team” route much like the Brooklyn Nets tried in 2020. The issue is that they signed two natural scorers: Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. They also handed them fifty-million-dollar contracts on a golden platter to put around another natural scorer in Devin Booker. So, they are now stuck with three natural scorers that have similar effects on the basketball court. This won’t benefit a team whatsoever, as all they’re going to do is split stats instead of benefiting off of each other. They also have absolutely no depth coming off the bench, especially in the big men category. Outside of their starting lineup, their team is absolutely nothing. When the starters need a break they are bound to give up large runs to any opponent.
This is the opposite story of Minnesota. They have their natural scorer in future Hall of Famer Anthony Edwards who is currently averaging 25.9 points per game on 46.1 percent shooting and will extend those numbers in the playoffs. However, the real winning factor is the players the franchise put around him. At point guard, they have the veteran Mike Conly who is a phenomenal passer, a very underrated defender, and can score the ball at a high percentage when needed. At small forward, they have a role scorer in Jaden McDaniels, who simply shoots the ball at a high percentage (48.9 percent) and will most definitely make big shots down the line in this series. Although this is a good start to a roster, their power forward and center is what will truly piece together their starting lineup. At center, they have the reigning defensive player of the year and three-time defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert. There’s no arguing that the Frenchman is one of the best defenders in the league. He can also do the dirty work on both sides of the court with his seven-foot-one stature. He’s currently averaging fourteen points on 66.1 percent shooting with 12.9 rebounds per game. Just those stats alone show that he simply picks opposing players down to their last win in the paint. They also carry Karl-Anthony Towns or “KAT” at power forward. He is also an absolute nightmare in the paint and defensively. On top of that, he can shoot the lights out. He is currently shooting a whopping 41.6 percent from beyond the arc and averaging 21.8 points per game.
It doesn’t end there for the Timberwolves. Their bench is what truly determines if they will make or break in this year’s playoffs. To start things off they have quite literally the best bench player in the league according to the National Basketball Association themselves, in Naz Reid who is now the proud holder of the 6th Man of the Year award. He can fill in KAT or Gobert’s shoes in the blink of an eye if either needs a breath. They also have the likes of Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Kyle Anderson coming off the bench. To put it simply, this Minnesota Timberwolves team is pieced together for playoff success.
A finals appearance might not necessarily come their way this spring in the stacked West but they will be heavily contending for it and it will most definitely arrive in the future. Either way, they will make a run for it this year and I find no argument against it. I guarantee the Minnesota Timberwolves will snap the skid and bring their first playoff series win in twenty years to the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis.