Minnesota's wolves are pups, Patriots win Super Bowl: Trends the last time Timberwolves won a playoff series
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Anthony Gharib, ESPN
The Minnesota Timberwolves are off to the Western Conference semifinals after a four-game sweep of the Phoenix Suns.
The Timberwolves finished the regular season with a 56-24 record, their most wins since the 2003-04 season. It also marked Minnesota’s third straight appearance in the playoffs, the first time since 2004. The Timberwolves series against the Denver Nuggets tips off Saturday.
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota by averaging 31.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists against the Suns.
Edwards had 40 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in the series clinching Game 4 win against Phoenix. He became the second player with 40 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in a series clinching win at age 22 or younger, the other being Magic Johnson in the 1980 NBA Finals, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Minnesota’s series win came almost 20 years to the day of its previous playoff clinching victory — April 30, 2004. Here’s a look back at what the world looked like the last time the Timberwolves advanced in the postseason.
Minnesota’s wolves are pups
There are a handful of squad members that may be too young to remember the franchise’s last playoff series victory.
Edwards was months away from turning 3 years old, while Karl-Anthony Towns was 8. Jaden McDaniels, one of the Timberwolves top young pieces, was 3 years old. The oldest player on the Timberwolves, Mike Conley, was in his sophomore year of high school.
For context, Conley’s age at the time — 16 years old — is just two years younger than the combined age of four of Minnesota’s top five scorers in the postseason: Edwards (2), Towns (8), McDaniels (3) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (5).
Usher owns the Billboard Hot 100
Ten years before his halftime performance at Super Bowl LVIII, R&B singer Usher had two of his tracks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. “Yeah!” featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris slotted in at No. 1, while “Burn” was at No. 4.
“Yeah!” spent 47 weeks on the chart, including 12 at No. 1, Usher’s longest track to be at the top. It won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and was nominated for Record of the Year. “Burn” spent 30 weeks on the chart, eight of which were at No. 1, and was nominated for two Grammys — Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
“Mean Girls” hits the box office
One of the more iconic movies of the 2000s released the same day the Timberwolves moved on to the second round. “Mean Girls” grossed $24.4 million domestically in its opening weekend and $86 million during its entire run. The movie was revamped for a release in January 2024.
The original film took home three MTV Movie Awards — Best Female Performer (Lindsay Lohan), Best On Screen Team and Breakthrough Female (Rachel McAdams).
The Patriots dynasty began to brew in early 2004. They defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 in Super Bowl XXXVIII, their second championship in three years and first of two straight.
Tom Brady threw for 354 passing yards and three touchdowns, while Deion Branch had a game-high 10 receptions for 143 receiving yards and a touchdown. Jake Delhomme had 323 passing yards and three touchdowns for Carolina, both postseason career highs.
A record at the time, Super Bowl XXXVIII saw 144.4 million viewers tune in.
Facebook is just over 1 month old
Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook on Feb. 4 while a sophomore at Harvard.
Originally called The Facebook, it had 1 million users by the end of the year, prompting Zuckerberg to drop out of school. Facebook is now one of the most used social media sites in the world, with approximately 3 billion users.
