You can dance if you want to
The Timberwolves celebrated, as they should.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Children on the Beach, Mary Cassatt, 1884
The Minnesota Timberwolves won a very difficult play-in game against the L.A. Clippers on Tuesday night. How difficult?
Karl-Anthony Towns only played 24 minutes due to foul trouble, shot just 3/11 from the floor after going 0/7 with 2 points in the first half. He also had four turnovers and the Wolves were -14 when he was on the floor. He actually looked worse than all of those numbers indicate. It was among the worst games I’ve ever seen an All-Star have in a playoff or playoff-ish game.
Patrick Beverley picked up three fouls in the first quarter.
D’Angelo Russell had one point in the first quarter.
Paul George sprung for what felt like a very breezy 34, despite missing some shots he’d usually make. (This wasn’t that far from being a 50-point performance, really.)
The Wolves seemed overly emotional and a little too amped up at the tip.
And yet, Anthony Edwards had himself a party. D’Angelo Russell thawed out and had himself a party. And Patrick Beverley: playing against the team for whom he was a key accelerant, the team that wouldn’t pay him what he felt he’s worth, precipitating a trade request to a team he thought would cut him that check: he sure had himself a party.
Let’s add some context here.
This was just the Timberwolves’ second winning season in the last 17 years.
If they lost this game, they’d have to host the winner of Pelicans/Spurs on Friday in a win-or-go-home elimination game. And clearly, anything can happen in elimination games.
The Wolves were down 10 with eight minutes left.
The Timberwolves had made the playoffs once since 2004. They just clinched a spot on national TV against a good team with a great player.
Pat Bev spent four years with the Clippers, and was referred to as the heart and soul of their team. If Patrick Beverley says he felt disrespected by the Clippers not offering an extension, he felt disrespected.
The Wolves are really young: Beverley is the only rotation player over the age of 26. KAT is the second oldest rotation player on the team.
Making the playoffs this season constitutes a massive success. Missing it after winning 45 games in the regular season would have been an enormous disappointment.
There’s a lot that went into what may otherwise have seemed like an over-the-top celebration. But joy at what some may consider pedestrian achievements — like winning the No. 7 seed — will always spark backlash. And when you watched the Timberwolves celebrate you had to know the Inside the NBA crew would have lots of fun at the Wolves’ expense.
Here’s my take: you should celebrate and have fun when you feel joy. Seems pretty straightforward! Of course, people love Inside the NBA precisely because they are always celebrating and having fun. They just happen to especially love celebrating what the poet Mary J. Blige would call “hateration.” That’s their thing. It brings them joy. It gets them attention. It brings much of their audience joy.
But that shouldn’t stop the Timberwolves from acting like they’ve won something, because they have. How are you supposed to act like you’ve been there before if you’ve literally never been there before? Moments like Tuesday serve as lorebuilding bricks for fandoms. It’s pay-off, it’s catharsis for fans who have suffered; it’s a memorable event for newer fans, something to look back on in years.
No, it’s not a championship. But it meant something to a lot of people — players who have been doubted, players who want more and are just getting a taste, players who think they belong in conversations of a higher caliber, fans who just want sports to bring them some happiness, fans who like seeing exciting things happen when they spend lots of money for an experience.
Make fun of all them if you want — do so especially if your whole thing is making fun of things, which is basically Shaq and Barkley’s job description; I have no problem with having fun with the fun — but don’t think that’s going to matter a lick to them. And it shouldn’t. Maybe this is the Timberwolves’ championship. What’s wrong with that?
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