Timberwolves looking to flip the switch as playoff showdown with Denver awaits

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The message was simple, if not frustrating. These Wolves just wanted to dispense with the regular-season obligations and get straight to the fun stuff. They assured those around them that once the playoffs arrived, they would dig deep and unveil a focus, energy and tenacity too rarely seen during the 82-game grind. “You don’t ever really want to be a flip-the-switch team, but we do have a switch to flip and we have to flip it now,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said this week. “When we do that, everybody kind of becomes the best version of themselves, and that brings out that continuity and connection that we need.” The time has come for the Timberwolves to deliver on that promise. When they tip off in Denver against the Nuggets on Saturday for Game 1 of their series, it will be the beginning of the quest to answer an existential question. Is this a team that underwhelmed because it didn’t have its foot on the gas in the regular season? Or is this a team in decline, with real weaknesses that will need to be addressed with significant roster moves this summer? The Wolves enter this series with plenty of star power. Anthony Edwards would have been All-NBA if he had met the 65-game threshold and has consistently given his best performances in the postseason. Julius Randle was one of the best players in the league in the first two rounds of the playoffs last season. Jaden McDaniels blossomed on offense this season and will be a crucial counter to Denver’s defensive approach. Ayo Dosunmu and Kyle Anderson have been important midseason pickups by president of basketball operations Tim Connelly. Naz Reid broke out of a slump as the season wound down, and Bones Hyland has emerged as a spark plug off the bench. “We know that not a lot of people are believing in us to accomplish this, but we do believe in ourselves,” Rudy Gobert said. “We have a bunch of underdogs. We have a bunch of guys who beat the odds in life, and that’s part of who we are, so we’re embracing that challenge and that opportunity.” But the Wolves also enter the postseason with some real concerns. Edwards missed 11 of the last 14 games of the regular season with a tricky right knee injury. Finch said that Edwards was full go in practice this week, but it is unclear how close to 100 percent he is as Game 1 approaches. Steph Curry has the same injury and has said that it can be unpredictable in how it reacts from day to day. McDaniels missed six games with his own left knee injury. Reid’s 3-point shooting tanked after the All-Star break in large part because of an ailing shoulder, and Randle dealt with a few minor injuries as well. McDaniels played two strong games at the end of the season and appears to be good to go. Reid shot the ball well in games against the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic and then took the final two games of the regular season off to rest his shoulder. Randle said he feels refreshed after getting the last three games of the season off after playing the first 79. “My body definitely needed it,” Randle said. “It was a great way to recharge. I’m excited to go into the playoffs again healthy and recharged.” The other concern outside of health is the statistical regression the Wolves saw this season. They finished the year 49-33 and in sixth place, the same record and seeding they had a year ago. That is not how they expected it to go when they reported to training camp, saying that the continuity from last year’s team would allow them to hit the ground running in their pursuit of a championship. They were 13th in offensive efficiency with a 115.6 rating, eighth in defensive efficiency (112.5) and 10th in overall net rating (3.1). Those numbers are all down from a year ago, when they were eighth in offense (115.7), sixth in defense (110.8) and fourth in net (5.0). Minnesota lost to the Los Angeles Lakers without LeBron James and Luka Dončić. The Wolves lost to the Sacramento Kings, Memphis Grizzlies, Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls and went 23-25 against teams with a winning record. They did not have the look of a team that was embarrassed by a 4-1 wipeout at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder in last year’s conference finals. They looked like a team that was taking its position in the West hierarchy for granted. In the meantime, the San Antonio Spurs and the Lakers, the team the Wolves cruised past in the first round last season, zoomed right by them in the standings. The Nuggets also got a rejuvenated Murray to help them overcome a slew of injuries to key players and finish five wins ahead of the Wolves. Denver closed the season on a 12-game winning streak and enters the playoffs brimming with confidence. Had the Wolves taken advantage of some incredible injury luck in the first three months of the season, they may have come up with a few more wins to get to the fifth seed, which would have put them up against the severely short-handed Lakers, a much easier path to the second round. Instead, a season of self-discovery has them tipping things off in Denver, where they are heavy underdogs. “I think we already knew who we were, but I think now we know even more who we are, and we know our superpowers, but we also know our demons,” Gobert said. Despite their underwhelming performance in the regular season, they enter the series with plenty of belief. They beat the Nuggets in an epic seven-game series in the conference semifinals in 2024. They were one of a select few teams to be top 10 in both offense and defense for a large portion of the season, before the injuries to Edwards and McDaniels torpedoed the offensive production. They went 6-3 against Oklahoma City, San Antonio and the Boston Celtics. And they are in the playoffs for the fifth straight season, the third-longest streak in the NBA. “It felt like that at times, like we was just trying to get through the season to get to the playoffs,” Edwards said. “But we’re here now, and all the other excuses are out the window. So it’s time.” They only have themselves to thank for an incredibly daunting path back to the conference finals, but at least they know their opponent. The Wolves and Nuggets have played 28 times in the last four years, including twice in the playoffs. The rivals have split the games, 14-14, with the Wolves outscoring the Nuggets 3,156-3,103, an average margin of less than two points per game. They know how dangerous the Nuggets are, and that might be the biggest reason for their optimism. They have been shredded by Nikola Jokić. They lost their 2023 first-round series to Denver, 4-1. They were 1-3 against the Nuggets this year. They know they have to find that switch to flip. “We don’t have a choice, and when our group doesn’t have a choice, usually it shows up,” Gobert said. “It’s all in our hands. It’s all in our power. We’re facing a great opponent, and we know that if we don’t come out hungry, we don’t have a chance. So it’s on us.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Jon Krawczynski is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Minnesota Timberwolves, the NBA and the Minnesota Vikings. Jon joined The Athletic after 16 years at The Associated Press, where he covered three Olympics, three NBA Finals, two Ryder Cups and the 2009 NFC Championship Game. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonKrawczynski