[3级]‘The building was shaking’: Behind the scenes of the Wolves’ best game ever由JabariIverson 发表在翻译团招工部 https://bbs.hupu.com/fyt-store
All these years later and Kevin Garnett still remembers the feeling he had driving to Target Center on the day of what was then the biggest game of his life and what remains to this day the biggest game in the life of the Timberwolves franchise.
“I just remember my good groove. And I was feeling good on my birthday,” Garnett told The Athletic. “I had never played on my birthday, so I asked God to give me the strength to have a good game and it happened.”
Garnett had never played on his birthday before because the Timberwolves had never made it deep enough into the playoffs to still be playing on May 19 of any given season. Finally, after seven straight first-round exits, two major roster additions in Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell and one MVP season from the Big Ticket, the Timberwolves were into the second round as the top seed in the Western Conference in the 2004 postseason.
The reward for their success? The Sacramento Kings, a star-studded roster with a terrific coach and designs on being the team that ousted Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers from the top of the conference. The two prideful teams split the first six games of a tense, air-tight series, setting up Game 7 at Target Center, a date with those Lakers in the Western Conference finals hanging in the balance.
“It was such a dogfight in that series,” said Randy Wittman, an assistant on Flip Saunders’ staff at the time. “It had everything from suspensions to fights. It was as physical a seven-game series that I’ve ever been involved with. It was the old heavyweight division. You took a punch, standing eight count and you clawed back and gave them a punch.”
Long before the days of David Kahn, Kevin Love’s knuckle push-ups, Flynn over Curry, Johnson over Cousins, Dunn over Murray, Jimmy Butler’s trade demand and Tom Thibodeau’s iron fist turned the Timberwolves into a punchline locally, the Twin Cities were on fire in anticipation of the now-or-never showdown. And though the game itself was a little ragged, the intensity lived up to the hype.
Garnett delivered a performance for the ages with 32 points, 21 rebounds, five blocks and four steals in an 83-80 victory that was not locked down until the very last possession. Another franchise may look at a Game 7 in the conference semifinals and shrug. Around here, it holds a place high above the rest of the more than 2,500 games in the franchise’s 31-year history.
Fox Sports North is re-airing the classic of all Wolves classics on Wednesday night as part of its series that is filling dates while the league is suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Those who were there remember Garnett’s sterling performance, Chris Webber’s near-miss and a building that rattled like never before, or since.
“It was a monster game,” Wally Szczerbiak said. “To be a part of it on your home floor was special. It was something I’ll never forget.”
For those who have forgotten …
The rivalry
The Wolves and Kings shared plenty of battles in the seasons leading up to their 2004 playoff series. At the time, both were perennial playoff teams that just had not been able to break through to the NBA Finals in the ultra-competitive West. Sacramento made the conference finals in 2002 and the semis in 2003 before getting another chance in 2004.
After a shaky 9-8 start to the 2003-04 season, the Wolves finally put it all together in a 112-109 overtime win at Sacramento on Dec. 5. Sprewell scored 37, Garnett had 33 and 25 boards and Cassell scored 26 in the breakthrough performance that spearheaded a 34-8 stretch that established the Wolves as the best team in the West.
Chad Hartman, former Wolves radio play-by-play announcer: That was where the Big 3 had their aha moment.
The Wolves finished the season with the best record in the West at 58-24, an indication of how competitive the conference was. Sacramento was the fourth seed at 55-27, just three games behind Minnesota.
Wally Szczerbiak, Wolves sixth man: Peja Stojakovic, Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, they were one of the powerhouses in the West at the time, as were we, really. We were both teams that made it to the playoffs every year and we were both trying to knock off the Lakers, Shaq and Kobe.
Garnett was one of the orneriest players in the league. If you were wearing the other jersey that night, you were the enemy. But early in his career, he always showed Webber more deference than any other opponent. While he attended high school in Chicago, Garnett was enamored with Webber’s Michigan teams.
Hartman: He loved the Fab Five. He just had immense respect for Webber. … He almost gave Webber too much respect.
It wasn’t until the 1999 season, Garnett’s fifth in the league, that he really asserted himself against Webber. The Wolves and Kings opened the season with two games in Tokyo, and Garnett went for 34 and 17 and then 31 and 12. It was a new day.
Hartman: Kevin just stuck it to Webber and everything changed after that. Over the next two to three years, they had so many great rivalry games.
Game 6
The first five games of the ’04 semifinals were tight as can be. Sacramento won Game 1 at Target Center when the Wolves came out flat after Garnett received his MVP trophy and the Wolves narrowly avoided an 0-2 hole with a late comeback in Game 2, closing on a 16-1 in the final 3:55 to erase a 10-point deficit. Minnesota won Game 3 in overtime in California, dropped Game 4 by six and picked up Game 5 to go back to Sacramento with a 3-2 lead.
Wittman: You never knew you had control, of the series or of a game. You just never felt like, “OK we’ve got this game. We’re in a good position now.” You never felt that.
The Kings throttled the Wolves in Game 6, 104-87, but the outcome ended up being advantageous to the Wolves in several ways. First off, it allowed Szczerbiak to get some much-needed playing time. He had missed the final two games of the series win over Denver and the first four games against Sacramento with a back injury. He played 5:30 in the win in Game 5 but got almost 20 minutes in Game 6 to work some of the rust off.
Szczerbiak: I broke my back on a dunk. Just fell off the rim and landed squarely on my back. Luckily I was only out for about two weeks and was able to get back. We got blown out at Sac (in Game 6). But I got some minutes at the end of that game and made some plays just to get my confidence going. So going into Game 7, I was confident.
The Wolves caught another break when Kings sixth man Anthony Peeler, a former Timberwolf and key scorer for Sacramento, lost his cool and clocked Garnett in the third quarter.
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Fred Hoiberg, Wolves guard: I was the one that shot the technical free throws at the end of the third quarter. Sacramento had the cowbells and they were throwing cowbells on the floor as I was trying to shoot the free throws. But that was a key moment. … Peeler was a huge part of that team. He was the sixth man and he got suspended for (Game 7). That certainly played to our advantage.
Hartman: On the flight back, it was palpable the anger towards Peeler. So many guys liked him. So many knew him so well, in particular Kevin. Kevin was fuming the whole flight. I’m sitting a few rows back and you could hear Kevin. He was furious at Peeler. Then it’s the next day was the “clips” line.
With tensions running high leading into Game 7, Garnett tried to describe the heat of the moment in colorful terms, likening the matchup to war. The comments drew criticism from some the more sensitive observers, and he was forced to apologize.
Hartman: I guarantee you that was still tied to how mad he was about Peeler.
Garnett: I remember I was full of emotion. I had said something the night before that I had to come back and apologize for because I was talking real. I’m ready, I’m real loaded up. I was feeling like that.
The stage was set.
Gameday
There were two days between Games 6 and 7, and by the time May 19 arrived, the anticipation in the Twin Cities was as high as it had ever been for a team that had finally grabbed hold of the sporting conscience. Fans would wait outside the arena to mob players and coaches for autographs, bars on First Avenue were packed hours before tipoff.
Wittman: Back then we didn’t have space for parking in the arena like you have today. You had to wait a couple hours (after games) because you didn’t want to go to the parking garage because they were crazy out there.
Szczerbiak: I don’t remember Minneapolis and Minnesota as a hockey community, I remember it as a basketball community and a Timberwolves community. … I was following our fans and the passion they had for us every single game, every single year.
Ervin Johnson, Wolves center: Oh my God. It was electrifying. They were in it from start to finish. The emotions were high. It was exciting. It was fun. The crowd was awesome.
Wolves fans packed into Target Center the moment the doors opened. They waved white towels and were keyed up from pregame warmups to the final buzzer.
Wittman: When we were in the locker room you could hear the building. I had never experienced that in anything leading up to it, even when we first started making the playoffs. You never heard the building in the locker room. When we were in the locker room getting ready, you heard the crowd and the building was shaking.
Hoiberg: I’ll never forget just how loud and raucous the arena was the entire game. I don’t think anybody sat down the entire 48 minutes.
With emotions running high, this was no time for Saunders to give some kind of rousing speech. The arena was on fire, the solitude of the locker room was pierced by the vibration coming from the bowl.
Wittman: Flip’s an excitable guy, but he was also a calming influence. I think more than anything he understood the moment and tried to be the calming influence in a situation like that. After the win, it was kind of crazy. But leading into that Game 7, there was nobody more calm and cool than Flip was.
Johnson: We were ready to go no matter what. We played each other six times in two weeks. We knew everything. We knew their plays. We knew their players. They knew us. It’s all about which team could execute, which team could get stops, which teams could score and make the least mistakes.
Hoiberg: That was a team where you really didn’t have to give a rah-rah speech. We knew what we were doing.
Wittman: It was a situation in getting the guys to understand you never know. You never know when the next time you’re going to be in that situation. We’ve never been here before, and the franchise hasn’t been back since. … You just tried to tell the guys that this is an opportunity of a lifetime. That’s what we told them. Take advantage of it. Nobody knows if you’re ever going to be in this position again as a team or as an individual.
Let the game begin
Much of the Kings’ offense revolved around the playmaking brilliance of their frontcourt tandem of Webber and Vlade Divac, who could knock down 20 footers, put the ball on the floor or find teammates cutting to the basket or flaring for 3s.
Hoiberg: Our biggest thing defensively was try to take away their layups. They were so good in their split game and had two of the best passers in the game with Divac and Webber and Brad Miller coming off the bench. Those guards were so good splitting and cutting off.
Johnson: Defensively, we liked that matchup. KG on Webber and myself on Divac. Wasn’t afraid. Just embraced the challenge.
Wittman: To this day it’s the loudest arena I’ve ever been in. When you stepped out on the court, I was a little worried we were going to be too amped up because that was as electric as I’ve ever seen an arena. And I’ve been in a lot of good ones.
Hartman: Before the game, everything seemed to be the same as usual. Once the game started, everything was different. Clearly everybody knows how brilliant Kevin was. If you go back and watch the game, it’s really an ugly game.
Throwback night
Whether it was the pressure of the moment, stingy defense or just an off night, two of the best offenses in the league struggled to hit shots. The Kings shot 39.5 percent from the floor. Stojakovic was just 3 for 12, Bibby was 4 for 13 and Webber had 16 points on 8-for-17 shooting and eight boards.
The Wolves only hit 42.3 percent of their shots and were 3 for 10 from deep with 18 turnovers. Between Cassell, Sprewell, Garnett and Trenton Hassell on the Wolves side and Bibby, Webber, Divac and Miller for Sacramento, both teams were filled with players who loved to operate in the midrange, taking the kind of 19-footers that are practically forbidden in today’s game.
Szczerbiak: An 83-80 score is a midway-through-the-third-quarter score in most games in the NBA now. That’s just how a lot of teams played. A lot was played through the post. We ran our offense through KG. It wasn’t just rush up and down the floor and take the first 3-pointer available. It was work the ball around, get the ball in the right person’s hands and get the best possible shot you can each possession.
Wittman: You are watching a different sport, no question.
The Wolves led 22-16 after the first quarter and started to get some breathing room when Szczerbiak scored 10 points in the second while taking advantage of some Kings switches and punishing Bibby in the post.
Szczerbiak: Flip, he knew what made me tick. He knew when I got into that game that I wanted to score and help the team any way I could and help the offense any way I could. He called my number, called a couple plays for me, and I just got aggressive.
His two free throws with 1:20 left in the half gave the Wolves a 39-28 lead. In a game as low-scoring as this one, that binge made all the difference. The Wolves were in control, and now it was up to the MVP to keep it that way.
Szczerbiak: KG took us home down the stretch with just a monster performance.
Garnett’s moment
Garnett remains peerless in Timberwolves lore, but at the time he was facing questions about his ability to take over in clutch moments. That’s why the pairing with Stephon Marbury seemed to make so much sense at the time. Marbury reveled in taking the last shot while Garnett was happy to draw the defense to him and open up better looks for other teammates. Cassell had a similar comfort taking the big shots, and that two-man game was nearly impossible for opposing defenses to handle.
Hoiberg: That’s what made Kevin such a special player, his ability to make the right play. Sam had had experience in his career being that guy. When you put Sam and Kevin in a two-man game with Ervin Johnson or Mark Madsen staying out of the way, Spree in one corner, Wally or myself or Trenton Hassell in the other corner — we just let those guys go to work and they made the right play.
On this night, in the franchise’s greatest hour of need, Garnett could not have been better. He made 12 of 23 shots, scored 13 straight points for the Wolves in the fourth quarter and had a wicked crossover to blow past Webber and dunk it.
Garnett: I was in such a groove, everything was flowing for me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to attack. I knew from watching tape I wasn’t taking any extra dribbles, I wasn’t taking any extra anything. Whatever they gave me, I took it.
Johnson: He put the team on his shoulders and we won the game. That’s all I can say. We won the game. He did a fantastic job. He made everybody better. It was a team effort, but it was all about him playing as well as he did.
Garnett rested for a grand total of 2:19, an indefatigable performance from a player whose reservoir of energy was always on F.
Hoiberg: He’s one of the most unique players I’ve ever been around for the fact that he was never off. He’d play back-to-back games over 40 minutes and he would be the first guy in the gym the next morning. He’d be in a timeout and his hands would be shaking and he’d be foaming at the mouth. He was just never off. He just had this constant energy to him.
Wittman: The great ones, not the good ones but the great ones, have the “It” factor. Kevin had it. Even at a young age. His ability to be as high as he was day-in and day-out to play basketball, I’ve never even come close to witnessing that with anybody else.
Game 7 of the 2004 WCSF, Kevin Garnett goes off for 32 pts 21 rebs 5 blk 4 stl to close out the series against the Kings. The Big Ticket did everything to get the W.
Almost as important as the scoring and the defense was Garnett’s leadership in the moment. Hartman had convinced Saunders to let the radio team put microphones in the huddle. The audio was never played on-air, but the announcing team would listen to the huddles during breaks to glean background information that would help them analyze the games. While everyone was searching for a rhythm in an intense game, it was fiery Garnett who kept his composure.
Hartman: There were a number of guys who were yelling at each other and were upset. The guy who was calming everyone down was Kevin. Normally Kevin would be very outspoken. Kevin was saying, “Just calm down.” Everybody was just on such a razor’s edge. No one could ever settle down throughout the game.
Szczerbiak: He had a monster year, winning the MVP. He helped carry our team to the first seed in the Western Conference that year. But that individual performance, it is probably the best Timberwolves performance of all time.
The celebration
Fittingly, the game came right down the wire. The Wolves led by nine with 3 minutes to go, but Doug Christie led one final Sacramento charge. His 3 with 16.8 seconds left made it Wolves 81, Kings 80, and had the entire arena waiting for another gut punch.
Cassell hit two clutch free throws, capping a strong game with 23 points on 6-for-12 shooting. His injured hip had limited his effectiveness in the middle portion of the series but athletic trainer Gregg Farnam and physical therapist Andre Deloya helped get him ready for Game 7.
The Kings had one final chance. Coach Rick Adelman drew up a superb play that got Webber a clean look from 3 to tie it. As he let it fly, Hoiberg was right under the rim, and he didn’t like what he saw.
Hoiberg: I had the best angle of anybody on the court. I was right on the block. That thing looked like it was dead on.
Wittman: I closed my eyes when that sumbitch shot that last one.
Szczerbiak: I just felt like it wasn’t destiny for that shot to go in. It was destiny for us to win that game at home and move on to the Western Conference finals.
The shot hit every part of the rim and bounced out. Webber, who didn’t join the Kings until March 2 because of his recovery from a torn ACL in the 2003 playoffs and a suspension, crumpled to the court in disbelief. After a brief pause, the crowd erupted as Garnett leaped on to the scorer’s table in an iconic moment.
Garnett: I remember the emotion, and I was fucking tired, bro. That was one of the more tired games I’ve ever been.
Johnson: We were exhausted. We were dog tired. It was like, celebrate for a moment. But we got the Lakers coming in here two days later. We had to celebrate that night. We were happy we won it. But we had to get ready for the Lakers.
The aftermath
After conducting his postgame interviews, Hartman walked back by the locker rooms, where the hallway was jammed with revelers. Webber had finished his media availability, and Hartman watched Wolves GM Kevin McHale, who still walks with a limp thanks to a foot injury he suffered while playing for the Boston Celtics, track Webber down for a quiet word in the chaos.
Hartman: They go over and have a five-minute heart-to-heart. McHale’s got his arms on his shoulders and I could hear him giving him so much respect. He’s talking about how his career changed so much from his injury. And he’s telling him how proud he was of Webber, how he’s not himself right now but he will be himself. How he played in ‘86 and ‘87 and ‘88. He said, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we won. But my admiration for you just went up so dramatically.” The respect between the two of them was so great. I thought it was such a classy touch by Mac to do that.
It wasn’t long before the good vibes started to sour. Cassell was dealing with a serious hip issue, one that would limit him severely against the mighty Lakers. Cassell gutted it out in Games 1 and 3, but played sparingly in 2 and 4 and could not even suit up for the final two games as the Wolves fell in six. Years later, Saunders would tell the media that he believed Cassell injured his hip doing his patented “Big Balls” dance in Game 1.
Hoiberg (laughing): Sam did that after every shot he hit, so I think he would’ve got hurt doing that before. That certainly wasn’t the first time he ever did that.
Szczerbiak (playfully): Sam had a lot of mileage on those hips. He was our clutch guy. He made such big shots for us down the stretch, running that pick-and-roll with KG, he was deadly in the midrange. It’s just unfortunate that he couldn’t stay healthy.
Cassell has denied that he was injured while dancing.
Cassell (to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha last year): I wish. I wish it was. Fuck, I had surgery. I didn’t know somebody had to have some major surgery dancing.
The Wolves were also without point guard Troy Hudson due to injury, which forced little-used Darrick Martin into increased playing time and left Garnett and Hoiberg to do a lot of the ballhandling, hampering their ability to run the offense the way they wanted to run it. The Lakers went on to lose to Detroit in the NBA Finals.
Hoiberg: I still believe if Sam would’ve stayed healthy we would’ve won a world championship that year. … To not have him was a huge blow. We still took that super team to six games. That tells you everything you need to know about that group.
Szczerbiak: It’s unfortunate we had a few injuries creep up on us because who knows what it could have been. … It’s never been duplicated in Timberwolves history.
The very next season, Cassell and Sprewell started causing problems because they were unhappy with their contracts and Saunders was fired before they reached the All-Star break. The quick disintegration was the beginning of the end of sustained competitive basketball as the Wolves know it.
Gersson Rosas and Flip’s son, Ryan, are the latest duo to get a chance to turn things around. Whether they are successful or not, Wolves fans will continue to look at that 2003-04 team as the gold standard for a franchise that has almost never been deserving of one.
Wittman: It’s too bad that’s the only time, but that shows you what that town can be.
— NBA writer Shams Charania contributed to this story.
All these years later and Kevin Garnett still remembers the feeling he had driving to Target Center on the day of what was then the biggest game of his life and what remains to this day the biggest game in the life of the Timberwolves franchise.
“I just remember my good groove. And I was feeling good on my birthday,” Garnett told The Athletic. “I had never played on my birthday, so I asked God to give me the strength to have a good game and it happened.”
Garnett had never played on his birthday before because the Timberwolves had never made it deep enough into the playoffs to still be playing on May 19 of any given season. Finally, after seven straight first-round exits, two major roster additions in Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell and one MVP season from the Big Ticket, the Timberwolves were into the second round as the top seed in the Western Conference in the 2004 postseason.
The reward for their success? The Sacramento Kings, a star-studded roster with a terrific coach and designs on being the team that ousted Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers from the top of the conference. The two prideful teams split the first six games of a tense, air-tight series, setting up Game 7 at Target Center, a date with those Lakers in the Western Conference finals hanging in the balance.
“It was such a dogfight in that series,” said Randy Wittman, an assistant on Flip Saunders’ staff at the time. “It had everything from suspensions to fights. It was as physical a seven-game series that I’ve ever been involved with. It was the old heavyweight division. You took a punch, standing eight count and you clawed back and gave them a punch.”
Long before the days of David Kahn, Kevin Love’s knuckle push-ups, Flynn over Curry, Johnson over Cousins, Dunn over Murray, Jimmy Butler’s trade demand and Tom Thibodeau’s iron fist turned the Timberwolves into a punchline locally, the Twin Cities were on fire in anticipation of the now-or-never showdown. And though the game itself was a little ragged, the intensity lived up to the hype.
Garnett delivered a performance for the ages with 32 points, 21 rebounds, five blocks and four steals in an 83-80 victory that was not locked down until the very last possession. Another franchise may look at a Game 7 in the conference semifinals and shrug. Around here, it holds a place high above the rest of the more than 2,500 games in the franchise’s 31-year history.
Fox Sports North is re-airing the classic of all Wolves classics on Wednesday night as part of its series that is filling dates while the league is suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Those who were there remember Garnett’s sterling performance, Chris Webber’s near-miss and a building that rattled like never before, or since.
“It was a monster game,” Wally Szczerbiak said. “To be a part of it on your home floor was special. It was something I’ll never forget.”
For those who have forgotten …
The rivalry
The Wolves and Kings shared plenty of battles in the seasons leading up to their 2004 playoff series. At the time, both were perennial playoff teams that just had not been able to break through to the NBA Finals in the ultra-competitive West. Sacramento made the conference finals in 2002 and the semis in 2003 before getting another chance in 2004.
After a shaky 9-8 start to the 2003-04 season, the Wolves finally put it all together in a 112-109 overtime win at Sacramento on Dec. 5. Sprewell scored 37, Garnett had 33 and 25 boards and Cassell scored 26 in the breakthrough performance that spearheaded a 34-8 stretch that established the Wolves as the best team in the West.
Chad Hartman, former Wolves radio play-by-play announcer: That was where the Big 3 had their aha moment.
The Wolves finished the season with the best record in the West at 58-24, an indication of how competitive the conference was. Sacramento was the fourth seed at 55-27, just three games behind Minnesota.
Wally Szczerbiak, Wolves sixth man: Peja Stojakovic, Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, they were one of the powerhouses in the West at the time, as were we, really. We were both teams that made it to the playoffs every year and we were both trying to knock off the Lakers, Shaq and Kobe.
Garnett was one of the orneriest players in the league. If you were wearing the other jersey that night, you were the enemy. But early in his career, he always showed Webber more deference than any other opponent. While he attended high school in Chicago, Garnett was enamored with Webber’s Michigan teams.
Hartman: He loved the Fab Five. He just had immense respect for Webber. … He almost gave Webber too much respect.
It wasn’t until the 1999 season, Garnett’s fifth in the league, that he really asserted himself against Webber. The Wolves and Kings opened the season with two games in Tokyo, and Garnett went for 34 and 17 and then 31 and 12. It was a new day.
Hartman: Kevin just stuck it to Webber and everything changed after that. Over the next two to three years, they had so many great rivalry games.
Game 6
The first five games of the ’04 semifinals were tight as can be. Sacramento won Game 1 at Target Center when the Wolves came out flat after Garnett received his MVP trophy and the Wolves narrowly avoided an 0-2 hole with a late comeback in Game 2, closing on a 16-1 in the final 3:55 to erase a 10-point deficit. Minnesota won Game 3 in overtime in California, dropped Game 4 by six and picked up Game 5 to go back to Sacramento with a 3-2 lead.
Wittman: You never knew you had control, of the series or of a game. You just never felt like, “OK we’ve got this game. We’re in a good position now.” You never felt that.
The Kings throttled the Wolves in Game 6, 104-87, but the outcome ended up being advantageous to the Wolves in several ways. First off, it allowed Szczerbiak to get some much-needed playing time. He had missed the final two games of the series win over Denver and the first four games against Sacramento with a back injury. He played 5:30 in the win in Game 5 but got almost 20 minutes in Game 6 to work some of the rust off.
Szczerbiak: I broke my back on a dunk. Just fell off the rim and landed squarely on my back. Luckily I was only out for about two weeks and was able to get back. We got blown out at Sac (in Game 6). But I got some minutes at the end of that game and made some plays just to get my confidence going. So going into Game 7, I was confident.
The Wolves caught another break when Kings sixth man Anthony Peeler, a former Timberwolf and key scorer for Sacramento, lost his cool and clocked Garnett in the third quarter.
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Fred Hoiberg, Wolves guard: I was the one that shot the technical free throws at the end of the third quarter. Sacramento had the cowbells and they were throwing cowbells on the floor as I was trying to shoot the free throws. But that was a key moment. … Peeler was a huge part of that team. He was the sixth man and he got suspended for (Game 7). That certainly played to our advantage.
Hartman: On the flight back, it was palpable the anger towards Peeler. So many guys liked him. So many knew him so well, in particular Kevin. Kevin was fuming the whole flight. I’m sitting a few rows back and you could hear Kevin. He was furious at Peeler. Then it’s the next day was the “clips” line.
With tensions running high leading into Game 7, Garnett tried to describe the heat of the moment in colorful terms, likening the matchup to war. The comments drew criticism from some the more sensitive observers, and he was forced to apologize.
Hartman: I guarantee you that was still tied to how mad he was about Peeler.
Garnett: I remember I was full of emotion. I had said something the night before that I had to come back and apologize for because I was talking real. I’m ready, I’m real loaded up. I was feeling like that.
The stage was set.
Gameday
There were two days between Games 6 and 7, and by the time May 19 arrived, the anticipation in the Twin Cities was as high as it had ever been for a team that had finally grabbed hold of the sporting conscience. Fans would wait outside the arena to mob players and coaches for autographs, bars on First Avenue were packed hours before tipoff.
Wittman: Back then we didn’t have space for parking in the arena like you have today. You had to wait a couple hours (after games) because you didn’t want to go to the parking garage because they were crazy out there.
Szczerbiak: I don’t remember Minneapolis and Minnesota as a hockey community, I remember it as a basketball community and a Timberwolves community. … I was following our fans and the passion they had for us every single game, every single year.
Ervin Johnson, Wolves center: Oh my God. It was electrifying. They were in it from start to finish. The emotions were high. It was exciting. It was fun. The crowd was awesome.
Wolves fans packed into Target Center the moment the doors opened. They waved white towels and were keyed up from pregame warmups to the final buzzer.
Wittman: When we were in the locker room you could hear the building. I had never experienced that in anything leading up to it, even when we first started making the playoffs. You never heard the building in the locker room. When we were in the locker room getting ready, you heard the crowd and the building was shaking.
Hoiberg: I’ll never forget just how loud and raucous the arena was the entire game. I don’t think anybody sat down the entire 48 minutes.
With emotions running high, this was no time for Saunders to give some kind of rousing speech. The arena was on fire, the solitude of the locker room was pierced by the vibration coming from the bowl.
Wittman: Flip’s an excitable guy, but he was also a calming influence. I think more than anything he understood the moment and tried to be the calming influence in a situation like that. After the win, it was kind of crazy. But leading into that Game 7, there was nobody more calm and cool than Flip was.
Johnson: We were ready to go no matter what. We played each other six times in two weeks. We knew everything. We knew their plays. We knew their players. They knew us. It’s all about which team could execute, which team could get stops, which teams could score and make the least mistakes.
Hoiberg: That was a team where you really didn’t have to give a rah-rah speech. We knew what we were doing.
Wittman: It was a situation in getting the guys to understand you never know. You never know when the next time you’re going to be in that situation. We’ve never been here before, and the franchise hasn’t been back since. … You just tried to tell the guys that this is an opportunity of a lifetime. That’s what we told them. Take advantage of it. Nobody knows if you’re ever going to be in this position again as a team or as an individual.
Let the game begin
Much of the Kings’ offense revolved around the playmaking brilliance of their frontcourt tandem of Webber and Vlade Divac, who could knock down 20 footers, put the ball on the floor or find teammates cutting to the basket or flaring for 3s.
Hoiberg: Our biggest thing defensively was try to take away their layups. They were so good in their split game and had two of the best passers in the game with Divac and Webber and Brad Miller coming off the bench. Those guards were so good splitting and cutting off.
Johnson: Defensively, we liked that matchup. KG on Webber and myself on Divac. Wasn’t afraid. Just embraced the challenge.
Wittman: To this day it’s the loudest arena I’ve ever been in. When you stepped out on the court, I was a little worried we were going to be too amped up because that was as electric as I’ve ever seen an arena. And I’ve been in a lot of good ones.
Hartman: Before the game, everything seemed to be the same as usual. Once the game started, everything was different. Clearly everybody knows how brilliant Kevin was. If you go back and watch the game, it’s really an ugly game.
Throwback night
Whether it was the pressure of the moment, stingy defense or just an off night, two of the best offenses in the league struggled to hit shots. The Kings shot 39.5 percent from the floor. Stojakovic was just 3 for 12, Bibby was 4 for 13 and Webber had 16 points on 8-for-17 shooting and eight boards.
The Wolves only hit 42.3 percent of their shots and were 3 for 10 from deep with 18 turnovers. Between Cassell, Sprewell, Garnett and Trenton Hassell on the Wolves side and Bibby, Webber, Divac and Miller for Sacramento, both teams were filled with players who loved to operate in the midrange, taking the kind of 19-footers that are practically forbidden in today’s game.
Szczerbiak: An 83-80 score is a midway-through-the-third-quarter score in most games in the NBA now. That’s just how a lot of teams played. A lot was played through the post. We ran our offense through KG. It wasn’t just rush up and down the floor and take the first 3-pointer available. It was work the ball around, get the ball in the right person’s hands and get the best possible shot you can each possession.
Wittman: You are watching a different sport, no question.
The Wolves led 22-16 after the first quarter and started to get some breathing room when Szczerbiak scored 10 points in the second while taking advantage of some Kings switches and punishing Bibby in the post.
Szczerbiak: Flip, he knew what made me tick. He knew when I got into that game that I wanted to score and help the team any way I could and help the offense any way I could. He called my number, called a couple plays for me, and I just got aggressive.
His two free throws with 1:20 left in the half gave the Wolves a 39-28 lead. In a game as low-scoring as this one, that binge made all the difference. The Wolves were in control, and now it was up to the MVP to keep it that way.
Szczerbiak: KG took us home down the stretch with just a monster performance.
Garnett’s moment
Garnett remains peerless in Timberwolves lore, but at the time he was facing questions about his ability to take over in clutch moments. That’s why the pairing with Stephon Marbury seemed to make so much sense at the time. Marbury reveled in taking the last shot while Garnett was happy to draw the defense to him and open up better looks for other teammates. Cassell had a similar comfort taking the big shots, and that two-man game was nearly impossible for opposing defenses to handle.
Hoiberg: That’s what made Kevin such a special player, his ability to make the right play. Sam had had experience in his career being that guy. When you put Sam and Kevin in a two-man game with Ervin Johnson or Mark Madsen staying out of the way, Spree in one corner, Wally or myself or Trenton Hassell in the other corner — we just let those guys go to work and they made the right play.
On this night, in the franchise’s greatest hour of need, Garnett could not have been better. He made 12 of 23 shots, scored 13 straight points for the Wolves in the fourth quarter and had a wicked crossover to blow past Webber and dunk it.
Garnett: I was in such a groove, everything was flowing for me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to attack. I knew from watching tape I wasn’t taking any extra dribbles, I wasn’t taking any extra anything. Whatever they gave me, I took it.
Johnson: He put the team on his shoulders and we won the game. That’s all I can say. We won the game. He did a fantastic job. He made everybody better. It was a team effort, but it was all about him playing as well as he did.
Garnett rested for a grand total of 2:19, an indefatigable performance from a player whose reservoir of energy was always on F.
Hoiberg: He’s one of the most unique players I’ve ever been around for the fact that he was never off. He’d play back-to-back games over 40 minutes and he would be the first guy in the gym the next morning. He’d be in a timeout and his hands would be shaking and he’d be foaming at the mouth. He was just never off. He just had this constant energy to him.
Wittman: The great ones, not the good ones but the great ones, have the “It” factor. Kevin had it. Even at a young age. His ability to be as high as he was day-in and day-out to play basketball, I’ve never even come close to witnessing that with anybody else.
Game 7 of the 2004 WCSF, Kevin Garnett goes off for 32 pts 21 rebs 5 blk 4 stl to close out the series against the Kings. The Big Ticket did everything to get the W.
Almost as important as the scoring and the defense was Garnett’s leadership in the moment. Hartman had convinced Saunders to let the radio team put microphones in the huddle. The audio was never played on-air, but the announcing team would listen to the huddles during breaks to glean background information that would help them analyze the games. While everyone was searching for a rhythm in an intense game, it was fiery Garnett who kept his composure.
Hartman: There were a number of guys who were yelling at each other and were upset. The guy who was calming everyone down was Kevin. Normally Kevin would be very outspoken. Kevin was saying, “Just calm down.” Everybody was just on such a razor’s edge. No one could ever settle down throughout the game.
Szczerbiak: He had a monster year, winning the MVP. He helped carry our team to the first seed in the Western Conference that year. But that individual performance, it is probably the best Timberwolves performance of all time.
The celebration
Fittingly, the game came right down the wire. The Wolves led by nine with 3 minutes to go, but Doug Christie led one final Sacramento charge. His 3 with 16.8 seconds left made it Wolves 81, Kings 80, and had the entire arena waiting for another gut punch.
Cassell hit two clutch free throws, capping a strong game with 23 points on 6-for-12 shooting. His injured hip had limited his effectiveness in the middle portion of the series but athletic trainer Gregg Farnam and physical therapist Andre Deloya helped get him ready for Game 7.
The Kings had one final chance. Coach Rick Adelman drew up a superb play that got Webber a clean look from 3 to tie it. As he let it fly, Hoiberg was right under the rim, and he didn’t like what he saw.
Hoiberg: I had the best angle of anybody on the court. I was right on the block. That thing looked like it was dead on.
Wittman: I closed my eyes when that sumbitch shot that last one.
Szczerbiak: I just felt like it wasn’t destiny for that shot to go in. It was destiny for us to win that game at home and move on to the Western Conference finals.
The shot hit every part of the rim and bounced out. Webber, who didn’t join the Kings until March 2 because of his recovery from a torn ACL in the 2003 playoffs and a suspension, crumpled to the court in disbelief. After a brief pause, the crowd erupted as Garnett leaped on to the scorer’s table in an iconic moment.
Garnett: I remember the emotion, and I was fucking tired, bro. That was one of the more tired games I’ve ever been.
Johnson: We were exhausted. We were dog tired. It was like, celebrate for a moment. But we got the Lakers coming in here two days later. We had to celebrate that night. We were happy we won it. But we had to get ready for the Lakers.
The aftermath
After conducting his postgame interviews, Hartman walked back by the locker rooms, where the hallway was jammed with revelers. Webber had finished his media availability, and Hartman watched Wolves GM Kevin McHale, who still walks with a limp thanks to a foot injury he suffered while playing for the Boston Celtics, track Webber down for a quiet word in the chaos.
Hartman: They go over and have a five-minute heart-to-heart. McHale’s got his arms on his shoulders and I could hear him giving him so much respect. He’s talking about how his career changed so much from his injury. And he’s telling him how proud he was of Webber, how he’s not himself right now but he will be himself. How he played in ‘86 and ‘87 and ‘88. He said, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we won. But my admiration for you just went up so dramatically.” The respect between the two of them was so great. I thought it was such a classy touch by Mac to do that.
It wasn’t long before the good vibes started to sour. Cassell was dealing with a serious hip issue, one that would limit him severely against the mighty Lakers. Cassell gutted it out in Games 1 and 3, but played sparingly in 2 and 4 and could not even suit up for the final two games as the Wolves fell in six. Years later, Saunders would tell the media that he believed Cassell injured his hip doing his patented “Big Balls” dance in Game 1.
Hoiberg (laughing): Sam did that after every shot he hit, so I think he would’ve got hurt doing that before. That certainly wasn’t the first time he ever did that.
Szczerbiak (playfully): Sam had a lot of mileage on those hips. He was our clutch guy. He made such big shots for us down the stretch, running that pick-and-roll with KG, he was deadly in the midrange. It’s just unfortunate that he couldn’t stay healthy.
Cassell has denied that he was injured while dancing.
Cassell (to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha last year): I wish. I wish it was. Fuck, I had surgery. I didn’t know somebody had to have some major surgery dancing.
The Wolves were also without point guard Troy Hudson due to injury, which forced little-used Darrick Martin into increased playing time and left Garnett and Hoiberg to do a lot of the ballhandling, hampering their ability to run the offense the way they wanted to run it. The Lakers went on to lose to Detroit in the NBA Finals.
Hoiberg: I still believe if Sam would’ve stayed healthy we would’ve won a world championship that year. … To not have him was a huge blow. We still took that super team to six games. That tells you everything you need to know about that group.
Szczerbiak: It’s unfortunate we had a few injuries creep up on us because who knows what it could have been. … It’s never been duplicated in Timberwolves history.
The very next season, Cassell and Sprewell started causing problems because they were unhappy with their contracts and Saunders was fired before they reached the All-Star break. The quick disintegration was the beginning of the end of sustained competitive basketball as the Wolves know it.
Gersson Rosas and Flip’s son, Ryan, are the latest duo to get a chance to turn things around. Whether they are successful or not, Wolves fans will continue to look at that 2003-04 team as the gold standard for a franchise that has almost never been deserving of one.
Wittman: It’s too bad that’s the only time, but that shows you what that town can be.
— NBA writer Shams Charania contributed to this story.
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