Minnesota's Timberwolves are legal contenders for the 2025 NBA playoffs. The Timberwolves entered the back-to-back Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history after eliminating the Golden State Warriors in five games Wednesday night.
Their 23-year-old phenomenon, Anthony Edwards, continues to thrive in the team's system, making NBA history almost every night. In the past two playoffs, the Timberwolves have also eliminated some elite talents from the league.
Last season, they eliminated the likes of Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic. This season, they removed LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Although Curry wasn't suffering from a debilitating hamstring injury, which wasn't a factor, the Timberwolves still canceled the Warriors in an impressive way.
Many teams in NBA history have appeared in the finals and will never come back. The Timberwolves who want to make sure they are not a team prove that they have lasting power in this generation of NBAs.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said he raised a challenge in the form of a problem, which is a challenge to this year's Timberwolves.
"Are you a team in the Western Conference Finals or a team that has just entered the Western Conference Finals?" Finch asked.
The Timberwolves then translated the coach’s investigation into motivation throughout the season.
Coach Finch said he asked a question throughout the season:
-NBA (@NBA) May 15, 2025
“Are you a team from the Western Conference Finals or a team from the Western Conference Finals just now?
...and there is only one way to prove it. Go out and do it again. ” https://t.co/oczz2kogrhpic.twitter.com/fdnyt0blnz
"There is only one way to prove, go out and do it again. That's our mission all year round. It took a lot of pain, but the teams have merged into the right team and played the best basketball."
Although the Timberwolves found themselves in consecutive Western Conference Finals, the Timberwolves looked very different from the 2023-24 roster. The team split the way with Karl Anthony-Towns after nine seasons, bringing in Julius Randle and Donte Divincenzo.
Despite their success right now, this season isn't all sunshine and butterflies. They started their 8-10 season, with Randle and Divincenzo missing 33 games this season.
However, Coach Finch kept on track throughout the season, with a fourth straight season of more than .500. Finch has a regular season record of 209-160 and serves as the head coach of Timberwolves. Finch hopes to lead the Timberwolves to the NBA Finals for the first time in team history with the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Denver Nuggets.
Related: Anthony Edwards