Wolves Riding High with 7 Games Remaining

The Minnesota Timberwolves appear to be getting healthy at the right time, with 7 games remaining at the time of this writing before the Play-In tournament begins. Lots of things have happened with the Wolves since I last wrote an update in early February after the DLo trade. 

Since the February 8th update: the Wolves are 9-9. Not exactly what I had hoped but better then what I feared. Minnesota has been through ups and downs since then. Lots of growing pains and frustrations. The All-Star break came and went without any news of KAT's return so fans were getting (understandably) frustrated with the team. And with the pack's streaky nature, it seemed things were a little bleak. Most of Minnesota's wins since the trade have been in spurts. Other then right after the trade, the Wolves would win a few games in a row and then drop a couple, and repeat. Problems would appear to be fixed and then mysteriously reappear in a few games. While this may not have been where us Wolves fans had thought/hoped the team would be at this point in the season, it is what it is. So lets evaluate!

First off, the team had quite the scare in a March 17th loss in Chicago, when in the first quarter Anthony Edwards went down with what appeared to be a potential season or career altering ankle injury. It looked really bad and Edwards was pounding the floor in agony. While the fans looked on and held their breath, the team also announced that Towns was progressing to the point of nearing a return within the next week. This was good news on a few days stretch when things seemed bleak. Then, after that, the Wolves announced that Edwards was spared from any devastating injury and only sustained a minor high ankle sprain. Even further, Edwards had mysteriously taped his ankles before that one game in Chicago, so that also prevented him from suffering as bad an injury as we thought it was. Towns would make his long awaited return from a right calf strain on March 22nd against a scrappy Atlanta Hawks team. In his return, KAT put up 22 points and 8 rebounds. This also included the game winning free throws in the final seconds. One heck of a return by Minnesota's fan-favorite big man. Then in the next game, Edwards returned from his ankle injury after missing a rare 3 games in his career, and helped the Wolves to a potentially season-altering 99-96 win in San Francisco over Golden State.

This is of course glossing over the work the rest of the team did during both injuries. While Edwards was the main star for the team since KAT went down with his injury in November, Gobert has come into his own as well on the team and really learned his role. Since the trade, Mike Conley has seemed to find his clutch shot-making again and is quite the shifty point guard that this team needs. Naz Reid has been excellent in KAT's absence, and has even made a name for himself in the league. Taurean Prince had a game for the ages in New York last week in a win over the Knicks, without Edwards or KAT, in which he made all 8 shots he took. Then, of course, Minnesota's budding two-way star Jaden McDaniels has made statement after statement every week that he is the league's premier defensive star. He has been that way in big games too. Just last night, the Wolves needed defense in the final 15 seconds to close out the win, and Jaden provided excellent defense on Stephen Curry to seal the Wolves win. 

While these are great things, there is still work to do. Like I said earlier, the Wolves have 7 games remaining before the Play-In Tournament and/or the playoffs. While last year's play-in win over the Clippers was fun, I would rather the team skip to the playoffs. So with the recent win over Golden State, it puts the Wolves squarely in control of their destiny. If they can keep winning, they will keep rising in the race. The win puts Minnesota a half game out of the 6th seed in those Warriors. The Wolves currently hold tiebreakers over the Lakers and the Thunder in case those are needed. They don't hold one over the Pelicans, but they are a half game above them right now. If Minnesota can manage to win over half their upcoming games, I think they make the top 6 and skip to the playoffs. If they don't, they will stay in the play-in tournament. I think they definitely have the opportunity to make this work. While their schedule is tough, they have shown many times they would rather beat good teams then bottom-tier teams. 

I am looking forward to the finish line here, stretch run here we go!

​#RaisedByWolves