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Saturday’s 115-110 loss to Oklahoma City acted almost as a teaser for Wolves fans, a look at a young, healthy Thunder squad that has put the right pieces in place over the last four years and has built itself into a legitimate championship contender this spring.
It’s a team filled with youthful stars—most notably forward Kevin Durant and guard Russell Westbrook—that not so long ago were the core players on a team trying to break out. At the All-Star Weekend in Orlando, both players said Minnesota’s roster reminded them a lot of themselves just a year or two ago, and even as recently as late-March the Timberwolves showed their grit and resilience in a double-overtime loss to the Thunder that pushed Oklahoma City to its limits.
But one key element has been there for the Thunder both this season and in seasons past, a luxury that Minnesota has not had in the past month. Oklahoma City has remained healthy.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks said that’s as vital a piece in championship contention as anything.
“It’s a big part,” he said. “You can’t win in this league consistently if you’re not healthy. I don’t care—you can lose a player or two occasionally. But what [the Wolves] have done, Rick [Adelman] has done a great job building this team and making them competitive every night.”
That’s been the main issue for Minnesota since losing rookie guard Ricky Rubio on March 9. In the past four weeks, the Wolves have had eight total players miss time due to various injuries. That’s kept some of their top players unavailable, including Rubio and most recently forward Kevin Love with a concussion, which turned Minnesota from a playoff contender into a squad that dipped out of the race.
Brooks said Rubio in particular is a game changer—an underrated defender that is so active on both ends of the floor that simply his presence on the court elevates everyone else’s game.
Still, the imprint that the Wolves left through the first two-thirds of the season made Brooks acknowledge that Minnesota is not going away. With center Nikola Pekovic emerging this season and others stepping up when called upon, the Wolves have a system in place that bodes well for their future.
Brooks said they will again be a difficult divisional foe to deal with in 2012-13.
“It’s unfortunate that it happened because they were really playing good basketball; they were right at .500 and fighting for their playoff position,” Brooks said. “But they have a good foundation, and next year they’ll be right back in it.”
Durant, who has been complimentary about the Timberwolves and the play of Love and Rubio all season long, expressed a hint of relief in Minnesota not making the playoffs this year. After all, the Wolves have lost two games by five points or fewer and taken another game to double overtime against Oklahoma City this season.