Key for Wolves in season's home stretch? 'Every game has got to be personal'

The Minnesota Timberwolves have proven they can beat anyone when they're at their best.

They've also shown they can lose to anyone when they get in their own way.

An example of the Timberwolves at their best came Friday night in their blowout victory over the Phoenix Suns, which concluded their four-game regular-season series, all Minnesota victories. There are certain teams the Wolves always seem to wake up for, the Suns being one. Another is the 2023 champion Denver Nuggets, who Minnesota is 3-0 against this season with one more matchup to go. A common denominator is that the Wolves beat both in last year's playoffs.

Coach Chris Finch believes that's partially why his team brings that extra edge against teams like the Suns and Nuggets, after all, familiarity breeds contempt. They have tons of film on those teams, they know their tendencies and there's a comfort level there. There's also a respect for players who've accomplished so much like Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic.

"When you play these teams in the playoffs, you get to know them so well, some bad blood often comes in and it becomes a little bit more personal. Certainly, I know some of our guys take it that way and we see it in the results," Finch said after Friday's game. "But every game has got to be personal in regards to what we're trying to do here."

The Wolves haven't always shown the same edge against teams they're less familiar with or who are outside the playoff picture. Minnesota is just 12-13 against Eastern Conference teams this season, including a pair of recent losses against the Indiana Pacers. They have losses against the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans, who ring up the bottom of the Western Conference standings. They're also 2-2 vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder, who've clinched the West's No. 1 seed.

"We got to have the level of urgency every night because the level of talent is everywhere in this league," Rudy Gobert said. "... By now we should have learned the lesson that when we don't, regardless of who we play, we hurt ourselves."

Gobert thinks the Wolves are their own biggest opponent. He sees parallels between this year's team and last's year's squad that reached the Western Conference finals. Once they start hearing and believing they're good, that's when the edge wears off. He noted Minnesota was the underdogs in its first-round series against the Suns and its second-round series against the Nuggets. The Wolves won both. They were the favorites against the Dallas Mavericks in the West finals.

"We play at our peak when we have that level of — almost fear," Gobert said. "A little bit of fear, a little bit of urgency, that kind of survival instinct. When we play with that, we are really, really good, and there's no one we cannot beat when we play that way. It's about finding a way to have that every night."

The good news is there should be some fire under the feet of the Wolves with eight regular-season games remaining. They're currently eighth in the West and have some work to do if they want to claim a top-six seed and avoid the play-in tournament. Minnesota is a half-game back of the Los Angeles Clippers, who they'd hold a tiebreaker over, for the sixth spot in the standings. But they're also a half-game back of the Golden State Warriors, who hold the tiebreaker over them.

The Wolves are a better team than their 42-32 record when at their peak, something Mike Conley describes as both motivating and frustrating. A common theme he's noticed when the Wolves are at their best is that no one is worried about individual accolades. They're not complaining to the officials. They're not arguing. They're just focused on the common goal. And they have an edge, one that needs to be on display in all eight remaining regular-season games.

"We've got to bring that level of respect to every opponent, and that's something we haven't always done," Finch said. "We need to be able to do that, and coming down the stretch here, if we play with that type of focus, intensity and purpose, then we'll be fine."

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