The Timberwolves went about so far as they had been anticipated to go within the playoffs, earlier than dropping to the Thunder, who extra video games this common season than anybody within the league. Minnesota deserves reward. They solely lasted 5 video games within the Western Convention Finals, However they had been up in opposition to the squad that appears just like the clear title favourite.
Nonetheless, getting bounced from the playoffs is all the time powerful.
Through the Star Tribune:
Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo mentioned a sequence just like the one Minnesota simply endured “provides you perspective that you just’re not far off and also you’re proper there. We simply need to be able to attempt to get one other chew on the apple.”
Was {that a} chew? It felt extra like a nibble. Like, Minnesota tasted a smidge of the peel and thought perhaps there was a drop of juice on there. That’s to not belittle this 12 months’s crew. Minnesota did publish a web score of plus-5.0, just under the title-winning threshold. Submit Jan. 1, that quantity was plus-7.0.
A 12 months in the past, the Wolves had been plus-6.3. That’s title-contending stuff. And Minnesota actually seemed like extra of a championship-caliber crew final season, armed with its top-tier protection. That felt extra like a legit chew, like a crack on the crown that simply didn’t go the Wolves’ means for matchup and harm causes.
This didn’t. A number of issues lined up within the Wolves’ favor by season’s finish, and it merely didn’t matter. It hardly ever will while you merely aren’t in the identical caliber because the convention’s prime contender.
