The Minnesota Timberwolves are back where they finished last year.
After dispatching the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors in five games, the Timberwolves have returned to the Western Conference Finals for a second straight season.
Last season, the Wolves could only scrap out one win in the Conference Finals before the Dallas Mavericks sent them home. After a euphoric Game 7 win over the Denver Nuggets, Vegas picked the Wolves to advance past Dallas before the series started.
Instead, the long playoff run caught up to Minnesota’s unprepared legs. They ran out of gas, abruptly ending their best season in 20 years. Anthony Edwards was confident the Wolves’ run to the Conference Finals wasn’t a fluke.
“We’ll be back next year,” he said.
Edwards also mentioned in his exit interview that the Wolves trained in the offseason to play 82 games, not the 100-plus that it takes to win the Finals. Naz Reid said that guys were tired. Kyle Anderson’s dad told him the team hit a wall.
As the Wolves get set for Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, aiming to do what last season’s team couldn’t, they must have their track shoes on. A wall of fatigue ended Minnesota’s 2024 season, and they will need to explode through it this year.
Mike Conley feels much better physically entering the Conference Finals this year than last.
“It’s probably a complete 180 from last year, honestly,” Conley said on Friday. “Just thankful to get to this point where we are walking into the Western Conference Finals healthy. Everything is in front of us. I feel good. The team feels good. Just having a great opportunity.”
The Wolves had a great opportunity last year against Dallas, but they didn’t walk into the series. Instead, they crawled into Game 1 after having only two days to recover from a wild seven-game series against Denver. This year, Minnesota has five days to prepare for Game 1.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets-Thunder series went the distance. OKC wrapped up Game 7 with a 32-point victory on Sunday. The Wolves were probably sitting on their couches, icing their knees after practice while watching the Thunder’s beatdown.
Like any postseason team, Minnesota needed the extra recovery time. They made relativity short work against a Warriors team that simply wasn’t good without Curry. However, the Wolves still showed signs of fatigue in Game 5.
“Fortunately, we had the cushion,” Finch said. “I think we looked a little bit gassed at times. They just kept hustling, hustling, and hustling, beating us to some balls.”
The Wolves committed 21 turnovers in Game 5, resulting in 26 points for Golden State. The Warriors also crashed the glass for 18 offensive rebounds, which they turned into 27 points. Against most playoff teams, those would be fatal numbers. However, Minnesota led by as many as 25, and Golden State never got closer than nine points in the fourth.
The Wolves had a margin for fatigue to set in against the Warriors without Curry. They averaged 18.4 turnovers in the series and committed 21 turnovers in each of the final three games. Too many turnovers over an extended period and deflating second-chance points weren’t fatal.
However, they will be against OKC.
SCORING, STEALS, AND ENERGY!
INCREDIBLE SEQUENCE BY OKC TO CLOSE THE HALF 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FrfBv5I3QD
— NBA (@NBA) May 18, 2025
In Game 7 against Denver, the Thunder displayed what led them to 68 regular-season wins. As the Wolves watched from home, they saw one final example of what you absolutely can’t do against the Thunder – let them directly play into their strengths.
Denver trailed by one with three minutes left until halftime. Over the next five minutes, OKC went on a 27-5 run, shooting 10 of 11 from the floor and taking a 23-point lead. The Thunder are always a threat to go on a gut-punching run and flip the game instantly.
They do it by turning up the defensive pressure and capitalizing on their opponent’s mistakes.
In the playoffs, the Thunder rank first in points off turnovers (24.7) and first in fastbreak points (20.1). They also allow the fewest points off turnovers (11) in the playoffs and the second fewest fastbreak points (9.9). It’s worth noting that in the playoffs, the Wolves rank second in points off turnovers (18.5) and fourth in fastbreak points (14.9). They also allow the fourth-fewest points off turnovers (13.5) and the fewest fastbreak points (9.6).
However, Minnesota turns it over 14.8 times per game, ranking the third worst among the 14 teams that have played more than four playoff games.
OKC’s excellence at dominating in transition while not allowing their opponent to do so is an overbearing combination they frequently put together in the regular season, and can easily lead to blowout wins like Game 7 against Denver.
OKC forced the Nuggets into 23 turnovers, resulting in 37 points. The Thunder also translated 15 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points and recorded 27 fastbreak points.
Like the Thunder, the Warriors are an up-in-your-face defensive team. However, OKC is more equipped to punish its opponents for their mistakes than Golden State. The Thunder also love to play quickly and in transition, ranking first in pace during the playoffs. They are an exhausting team to play against, but the Wolves must limit their fatigue-fueled mistakes.
Games against the Thunder can get out of hand, especially on the road. The Wolves will only return home for Game 3 with a 2-0 series lead or tied 1-1 by beginning the series energized and remaining disciplined.
Minnesota’s core was here last season. The Thunder weren’t. The wall that stopped Minnesota in 2024 proved that experience is a needed intangible when you get this deep into the postseason. OKC isn’t crawling into the Conference Finals like the Wolves did last year. Still, the Thunder enter Game 1 with one day off. The Wolves will have had five.
“It took a lot out of us emotionally and probably physically when we got to the next round,” Finch said on Sunday regarding Minnesota’s Game 7 against Denver last season. “We are in the same place we are now. I think guys have a better grasp of that. We still have eight more wins to achieve our ultimate goal. We still have two more series. We are only halfway there.”
“I think there is a far better understanding of that than there was a year ago.”
With the lessons the Wolves learned last year, they are primed to at least break through the wall that ended their 2024 season. Will it be enough to beat OKC four times in seven tries? We will see. However, if they don’t break through the wall of fatigue, Finch’s team will be packing for Cancun early once again.