The T-wolves are back in the Western finals, after staying patient and confident with their new look

The staff had a simple question for the players who helped the Minnesota Timberwolves make their deep run last year. "Were you a Western Conference finals team, or were you a team that just happened to make the Western Conference finals?" coach Chris Finch said, recalling the preseason conversation. The Timberwolves filled in that blank by beating the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors in five games in each of their first two series in these NBA playoffs, finalizing their return to the penultimate round where they lost last season to the Dallas Mavericks.