The Minnesota Timberwolves are shocking everyone but themselves as they eye Dallas Mavericks next

That’s how long it took for the Minnesota Timberwolves to claw their way out. Not a year, or five, or a lonely decade plus. For a full generation, this northbound basketball franchise was one of the sorriest outfits in all of sports–habitual roadkill, an easy out, an organisational mess, a lazy punchline, take your pick.

In the NBA, things could always be worse. You could be playing for–or rooting for–the Minnesota Timberwolves.

I’m here to tell you that these Wolves are not those Wolves. Rising for a few seasons now, these Wolves turn out to be happy-go-lucky killers, which they proved in wiping out the defending NBA champion Denver–in Denver–in a rollicking seven-game series with multiple plot twists and road upsets.

Dallas is next, with Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals Wednesday in Minneapolis.

“Bring ya ass!” the Wolves star and resident pot-stirrer admonished the Minnesota sceptic Charles Barkley.

BYA! Put it on a bumper sticker. Carve it into the Minnesota state seal. I’m sure they’re already making T-shirts and hats.

Outsiders like me are still a little stunned. The Wolves?

The Wolves are not stunned. These Timberwolves–these Loups de Bois, to use the formal Rudy Gobert–are a brassy, brazen collection of never-been-theres and almost-been-theres who have worked hard to get here, and now stand four wins away from the first final in this forlorn franchise’s 35-year history.

Game 7 was a come-from-behind marvel, the kind of game you’ll tell the grandkids about, frequently, to the point the grandkids will get a little sick of hearing about how the Timberwolves bricked their way through the first half with an anaemic 38 points and found themselves down 20 early in the third quarter.

Terrible friend I am, I texted a Wolves fan: This is over.

This all goes to show: nobody knows. I certainly don’t. Minnesota-Denver was a seven-game series in which the first six contests were one-sided blowouts and it took until the finale to get a classic, right up until the dagger, when the tormented wonder Karl-Anthony Towns jammed home a miss to seal the miracle.

Even a rough night from Edwards couldn’t undo the Wolves. Hailed early in the series as Michael Jordan’s air apparent, Edwards clunked his way through a 6-for-24 shooting night, and yet he contributed in critical ways: staying positive, passing out of double teams, and unleashing a full-court, second-half shutdown of Nuggets guard Jamal Murray.

The Kid was more than all right, it turned out.

Please know: Minnesota remains a talented if goofy team, still capable of harebrained mistakes. A Wolves game is not complete without multiple mental blunders and inexplicable shot attempts. Their head coach, Chris Finch, remains marooned in a sideline chair because of a knee injury. (Shout-out to stand in Micah Nori.)

Minny’s a little messy. And yet they believe.

Timberwolves fans are going nuts, and good for them. You’d be half bonkers, too, if you’d endured all they have endured, for far too long, staying loyal to a 1989-90 expansion franchise through screwball drafts and bad trades and far more ping-pong balls than playoff seasons. The Wolves have reached the conference finals only once before–exactly 20 seasons ago, when original saviour Kevin Garnett vaulted them over Sacramento.

That 2003-04 season was the first time Minnesota won an NBA playoff series. Until this spring, it was also the last time.

It’s only going to get crazier from here. There’s not a team left in this NBA Final Four–in the East, we’ve got Boston and Indiana–with a thirst like Minnesota’s. The Journal’s Robert O’Connell already chronicled the 156 people who ran to get a $20 tattoo commemorating beloved Wolves sixth-man Naz Reid.

Has a $20 tattoo ever been a better life decision? Reid was spectacular in Game 7, adding to the folklore.

Dallas brings its own surprise party train, having knocked out top-seeded Oklahoma City, the Slovenian star Luka Doncic overcoming two bad knees and a sore back to lift the Mavericks to the upset. Edwards vs. Kyrie Irving will be a treat. Dynamic role players abound. (On a minor graphic design note, there will be logo confusion, as both teams have strangely similar blue and white franchise emblems. Don’t smirk! It’s confusing!)

I can’t wait–but Minnesota’s waited forever.

The Wolves actually did it. They’re out of the wilderness.

-- The Wall Street Journal