With a four-game sweep of the Phoenix Suns, the Minnesota Timberwolves won a first-round series for only the second time in team history. This is the 36th season for the Wolves and their 12th first-round series.
The first series win for Minnesota was 20 years ago against the franchise it faces next, the Denver Nuggets.
That year the Wolves earned the number one seed in the rugged Western Conference, where 10 teams finished above .500 but only eight made the postseason. Minnesota was 58-24 (.707) and Denver was 43-39 (.524).
Kevin Garnett would later be named the league’s Most Valuable Player and he was a big force in the Denver series as he averaged 25.8 points, 14.8 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and one steal per game. He shot 45.4 perecent from the field and 72.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell were also impressive in the series.
Cassell averaged 20.6 points per game, shooting 48 percent from the field including 50 percent (10-for-20) from three-point range. Sprewell averaged 19.8 points per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 56 percent (15-21) on threes.
Sprewell: "I have a family to feed."
That was the first of Sprewell’s two seasons with the Timberwolves. Earlier in his career he played six seasons with the Golden State Warriors and five with the New York Knicks.
Prior to the 2004-2005 season, the Wolves offered Sprewell a three-year, $21 million contract extension, a substantial pay cut.
Claiming to feel insulted by the offer, he publicly expressed outrage, famously saying, "I have a family to feed."
He declined the offer and the team offered nothing more. Sprewell had the worst season of his career in the final year of his contract, averaging 12.2 points and 3.8 rebounds.
In the summer of 2005, the Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets all expressed interest in signing Sprewell, but he went unsigned and never played again in the NBA. His final NBA game was on April 20, 2005 against the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs as the Wolves missed the playoffs despite a 44-38 record.
One month into the 2005-06 season and without a contract, Sprewell's agent, Bob Gist, said his client would rather retire than play for the NBA minimum salary, telling Sports Illustrated, "Latrell doesn't need the money that badly. To go from being offered $7 million to taking $1 million, that would be a slap in the face."
In March 2006, Sprewell was offered contracts by the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs, both of which were considered at the time strong favorites to win the NBA Championship, but Sprewell failed to respond and remained a free agent as the season closed. The Los Angeles Lakers also showed some interest in him at the start of that season, but nothing came of it.
Familiar face leads Denver
A familiar face led the Nuggets throughout that series.
Former University of Minnesota shooting guard Voshon Lenard was Denver’s leading scorer, averaging 17 points per game.
Lenard played college basketball at the University of Minnesota. After his junior season, he tested the NBA waters and declared himself eligible for the draft.
The Milwaukee Bucks selected Lenard in the second round of the 1994 NBA draft. Lenard subsequently opted instead to return to Minnesota to play out his senior season. He finished his career with the Golden Gophers as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,103 points.
Playoff nuggets
A few other notes regarding the upcoming series:
Tim Connelly and Calvin Booth were instrumental in building a Nuggets roster that won last year’s NBA title. Connelly was Denver’s general manager and is now president of basketball operations of the Timberwolves. Booth was Connelly’s assistant with Denver and os now the Nuggets’ GM.
This will be the third postseason meeting between the teams and the second straight. Denver won 4-1 last season in addition to the 2004 meeting mentioned previously.
When Minnesota won Game 4 of its series with Phoenix 122-116, it was the third time the Wolves had scored 120-plus points in the series to mark the first time they’ve done that in team history. Their average of 118.3 points per game is the most in a series in franchise history.
Denver’s Nikola Jokic has scored 20-plus points in 24 consecutive playoff games. That is tied for the most in franchise history with Alex English.
Jokić is also second in franchise history in steals and blocks. He has 77 steals and needs one steal to tie Fat Lever (78) and two steals to secure the record. Jokic has 63 blocks, needing two blocks to tie Marcus Camby (65) and three blocks to secure the record.
Series schedule
Game 1: Saturday, May 4 at Denver, 6 p.m., TNT
Game 2: Monday, May 6 at Denver, 9 p.m., TNT
Game 3: Friday, May 10 at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Game 4: Sunday, May 12 at Minnesota, 7 p.m., TNT
Game 5: Tuesday, May 14 at Denver, TBD, TBD*
Game 6: Thursday, May 16 at Minnesota, TBD, TBD*
Game 7: Sunday, May 19 at Denver, TBD, TBD*
*indicates if necessary
Previous meetings
The Timberwolves and Nuggets have met in two previous playoff series:
2004 Western Conference first round
Minnesota Timberwolves defeated Denver Nuggets 4-1
Game 1: Minnesota Timberwolves 106, Denver Nuggets 92
Game 2: Minnesota Timberwolves 95, Denver Nuggets 81
Game 3: Denver Nuggets 107, Minnesota Timberwolves 86
Game 4: Minnesota Timberwolves 84, Denver Nuggets 82
Game 5: Minnesota Timberwolves 102, Denver Nuggets 91
2023 Western Conference first round
Denver Nuggets defeated Minnesota Timberwolves 4-1
Game 1: Denver Nuggets 107, Minnesota Timberwolves 86
Game 2: Denver Nuggets 107, Minnesota Timberwolves 86
Game 3: Denver Nuggets 107, Minnesota Timberwolves 86
Game 4: Minnesota Timberwolves 84, Denver Nuggets 82
Game 5: Denver Nuggets 107, Minnesota Timberwolves 86