From the worst trade in history to the god trade, it only takes one season.
The Timberwolves got Gobert 10-for-1 in his first season, and almost everyone thought they made the worst trade in history. No wonder everyone thinks so, the Timberwolves had a promising future the previous season, but their first season with Gobert declined and almost missed the playoffs. In the end, the play-offs were passed to get a playoff ticket.
But in their second season, the Timberwolves proved how remarkable they were to get Gobert 10-for-1. In the regular season this season, the Timberwolves won 56-26 and entered the playoffs in third place in the West. If it weren't for the loss to the Suns in the regular season finale, the Timberwolves would have entered the playoffs as first in the West. But it doesn't matter, losing to the Suns in the final game and being swept by the Suns in the regular season, so what? In the playoffs, the Timberwolves let the Suns lose their armor.
4-0, the Timberwolves swept the Suns to advance to the second round, and in all 4 games, the Timberwolves won heartily, so that the Suns had no temper at all. If the Timberwolves' victory over the Suns is not very convincing because of the chaos within the Suns, then the victory over the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals really made everyone start to pay attention to the Timberwolves and look at them with admiration.
Facing the league's biggest boss, the defending champion, and the Nuggets with the active No. 1 Jokic, the Timberwolves G1 got off to a perfect start. In the first half, the Timberwolves and Nuggets played back and forth, and the third quarter was still deadlocked. By the final quarter, the Timberwolves began to fire up the juice. With a sudden burst from bench Reed, the Timberwolves instantly extended their lead to double digits. At 106-99, the Timberwolves defeated the Nuggets on the road, leading 1-0 and gaining home-court advantage in the series.
Edwards is simply a modern-day Jordan, playing 42 minutes, shooting 17-of-29, 3-of-7 from three-point range, 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, and blasting 43 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks. In this year's playoffs, the Timberwolves averaged 33.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.8 steals and 1 block per game, shooting 53% from the field and 43% from three-point range. With such a performance, I ask who else?
Downs was plagued by foul trouble and played just 31 minutes, finishing with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists on 8-of-13 shooting, 2-of-4 three-pointers and 2-of-4 free throws. Naz Reed played 23 minutes off the bench, shooting 7-of-11 from the field and 2-of-4 from three-point range, and finished with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Conley Sr. played 31 minutes, shooting 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range, finishing with 14 points, four rebounds and 10 assists. Gobert played 35 minutes, shooting 3-of-6 from the field and finishing with just 6 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks, but those who watched the game knew how influential he was on the defensive end. And then there's McDaniels, who has been influential on the defensive end, even though he didn't score 0-of-7 from the field and only had eight rebounds on the offensive end. Under the Timberwolves' iron wall, the Nuggets have a hard time scoring.
Although Jokic had 32 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals, he only made 11 of 25 shots, 2 of 9 three-pointers, and had seven turnovers. Allowing Jokic to shoot nine three-pointers from the outside shows how successful the Timberwolves' defense is. Porter Jr. was 6-of-13, 4-of-7 from three-point range, 4-of-6 from the free-throw line, and had 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Murray was even more defended to 0 points in the first half, and only recovered in the second half, and finally made 6 of 14 shots, 2 of 4 three-pointers, and 3 of 3 free throws, scoring 17 points and 4 assists. Only 3 members of the Nuggets team scored double-doubles, and they also lost without temper.
Compared with the Lakers, the Nuggets seem tall and big, and they can bully the Lakers with their size. But compared to the Timberwolves, the Nuggets are not big enough. The Timberwolves have Gobert, Towns and Reed on the inside alone, which makes Jokic very uncomfortable. On the outside, there are Edwards, McDaniels, Alexander Walker, Lee Kyle, etc., and their defense is far from comparable to Reeves + Russell. The only weakness of the Timberwolves is experience, but if Edwards can always play at Jordan-level level, the Nuggets may have to stop there.