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Timberwolves fans, already worried that the best and most exciting season for the franchise in two decades will crash and burn this spring, were on the verge of choking the life out of it in mid-winter.
After another unsatisfying fourth quarter, leading to a bad loss in San Antonio over the weekend, one friend particularly prone to hyperbole and overreaction fumed in our group text, "32-50, these (expletives)."
The Wolves were 32-14 and were tied for the best record in the NBA's Western Conference. The implication was that they weren't just slipping a little during a mid-year lull but were so bad that they would lose the final 36 games of the season.
That was not a majority opinion, but something akin to it was coming from enough corners of Wolves fandom that Monday's game at Oklahoma City -- the other team tied at the time for the conference's best record -- felt extra important.
It wasn't just a good late January test. It was a referendum on the Wolves' path and all the good will they built up while going 30-11 during the first half of the season, as I talked about on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
As such, a 107-101 Wolves victory on the road -- and again without point guard Mike Conley Jr., often times their stabilizing force and designated adult -- had significance beyond restoring the Wolves to the top spot by themselves in the West standings.
It brought back a certain swagger within the team. And it brought fans back from the brink of whatever real or imagined panic they had conjured up about this team's outlook.
They played with a certain anger that could have spilled over into bad decisions. After the game, Anthony Edwards continued a multi-game lament about officiating when playing OKC, reiterating a specific grievance about all the calls Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets (he shot 16 free throws Monday, one more than the entire Wolves team) and adding a general gripe about the refereeing overall.
"I'mma take the fine because the refs did not give us no calls tonight," Edwards told Bally Sports North after the game. "We had to play through every bump, every grab. I don't know. I don't know how we won tonight."
But Edwards and the Wolves didn't let that drag them into an immature head space. They made almost every winning play down the stretch, including a huge tip-in from Jaden McDaniels.
It was the complete opposite of the end of the Spurs game, and fans noticed. Though I will say this: I did not see a corresponding, "68-14! These amazing Wolves!" message in my group chat.
Here are four more things to know today:
- The Mariners got the best player in the Jorge Polanco trade. But I still like the deal.
- Two bad losses and now a major injury to Mara Braun have changed the Gophers women's basketball team's outlook this season in a hurry.
- Also on Tuesday's podcast, Star Tribune Vikings writer Andrew Krammer joined me for a look ahead to the Super Bowl and a big picture look at the Vikings. Have these playoffs shown Minnesota is even further behind their division rivals? And if so, should they be thinking about a Justin Jefferson trade?
- Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins will join Wednesday's podcast to talk about a variety of subjects.
