The Minnesota Timberwolves: Is this really happening?

Is this real life?

Could the Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the absolute worst franchises in all of pro sports for 35 years, actually win a title?

It's starting to feel very real.

I thought that when the regular season ended the way it did, and the Wolves were locked in to a series against the Phoenix Suns, about the only team that handled them decisively this year in a 3-0 season sweep (all blowouts), that it meant all the wins they piled up this season were for naught, that they were now doomed to be bounced in the 1st round for the 3rd straight year. 

Then, stunningly, not only did the Wolves not get bounced by the Suns, they swept the Suns. And barely broke a sweat doing it.

So, okay, impressive. But next up here come the defending champ Denver Nuggets. The Wolves lost in round 1 to Denver last year, but had a couple key pieces out injured. So the assumption was that the Wolves would have a chance to at least make this a deep series.

Then they went into Denver for game 1 and won. And in game 2 they didn't even have Rudy Gobert, yet won again, this time in a massive blowout.

The Wolves are coming home up 2-0 on a Denver team that seems to have no answers.

This is already the best team in franchise history. Yeah the 03-04 team had a #1 seed and league MVP, but once they got the playoffs they had to grind out a 1st round win over Denver, then got pushed to the 7th game buzzer by a fairly ordinary Sacramento team, before losing the WCF to the Lakers. 

Unless this team collapses and loses to the Nuggets, they go to #1. 

But one's mind drifts to what happens next. If you get past Denver, it's either the Thunder or Mavericks in the conference finals. Not to say either would be easy, but I mean, if you've already slayed the Suns and Nuggets, why can't you best either of those teams?

No big 4 Minnesota team has played for a title in 33 years. So just getting to the NBA Finals would be an enormous deal. And who's to say they can't beat whoever comes out of the east, likely Boston or the Knicks?

Only my ingrained Minnesota sports ptsd is keeping me from thinking this is going to happen. Yeah I'm still waiting for the other show to drop, which it always does to our teams. We've had teams more than capable of winning it all since 1991, only to have the rug pulled out from under us. There's always the looming specter of a major injury or some fluke occurrence. 

There are two reasons to  believe.

One is the stifling defense this team plays. It's THE cliche, but defense wins championships. And they have already shown they have the capability to dominate great players and great offenses. That stuff travels, and tends to not come and go.

The other is Anthony Edwards. I've felt for years that with the way the NBA is, you only really have 2 paths to a title. Either be a major market, or have the best player in the sport. Edwards has been annihilating everything in his way in the playoffs so far, inviting comparisons to Michael Jordan that shockingly don't feel that ridiculous. I mean, he IS playing like the kind of star that can dominate ate and carry a team to a title. It's extra exciting because when you have this level of star player, you really have the chance to win titleS. 

Now, this could all prove to be laughably premature and in a couple weeks we could just be looking at this Timberwolves team as just the latest tease, the latest victim of the Minnesota sports curse.

Or maybe...just maybe...we are going to finally see a major title in this town again.