With a little over five minutes left in Saturday night’s win over the Rockets, Jeff Teague stroked a three, turned towards center court, beat his chest, and threw his arms up towards the rafters to pump up the Target Center crowd.
The rare show of passion from their usually-reserved starting point guard had Wolves fans on their feet and the building shaking, but they didn’t really need the prompt.
From the opening tip, the sold-out crowd threw their energy and excitement behind their team and helped the Wolves earn a resounding victory over their 2018 playoff opponents.
“It was crazy. All the fans were in the game the whole time,” said Andrew Wiggins after the game. “They helped us form momentum. Every big play they were loud, they were up on their feet, and I feel like they got us going the whole game.”
“Like I said from day one, we’re doing this for Minnesota,” added Taj Gibson. “The fans pushed us over the limit, they were in it the whole game. We felt the energy. The one thing about this crowd is they let you know when you’re playing bad and they let you know when you’re playing great. It was a great atmosphere tonight.”
Karl-Anthony Towns shook off a couple disappointing games and came up big for his team on Saturday. The support of the Minnesota crowd certainly played a part in keeping him positive.”
“The fans were absolutely insane. When you have fan support like that behind you anything’s possible,” he said. “It’s just humbling not only to see the fans be that elated, ecstatic, loving towards us, but just to see them buy into us that much. It’s an amazing experience.”
The playoffs are a good look for the Wolves’ home court, and Target Center will certainly be rocking again on Monday. It’ll be another tough game, and the Wolves still have adjustments they will need to make, but one they know one thing for sure—their fans will have their back.