Wolves book return trip to Western Conference finals with Game 5 win over Warriors

Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch had a simple challenge for his team at the beginning of the season.

"It was one question: Were you a Western Conference finals team, or were you a team that just happened to make the Western Conference finals?" the Wolves coach said. "And there's only one way to prove that: Go out and do it again."

Months later, Finch got his answer. The Timberwolves booked a return trip to the Western Conference finals by beating the Golden State Warriors 121-110 in Game 5 of their semifinal series Wednesday night at Target Center in Minneapolis, clinching a 4-1 series win. It marks the first time in 21 years the Wolves have closed out a playoff series at Target Center.

It's also the first time in franchise history the Timberwolves have reached the Western Conference finals in back-to-back seasons. They'll face the winner of the other Western Conference semifinal between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets. The Thunder currently lead that series 3-2, with Game 6 scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT Thursday night.

The series against the Warriors was marred when Steph Curry suffered a hamstring strain in Game 1, which was a Warriors win but came at the cost of Curry missing the next four, all Wolves victories. It wasn't the series Minnesota expected, but it could only play the team in front of them. The Timberwolves took a step by taking care of business.

"Tremendous loss for Golden State, no doubt," Finch said. "Tremendous loss for the series, and I'm sure it would have been quite different had Steph been able to play. But our guys took care of business, and that's not something that we've always done. I thought we had a bunch of business-like approaches in this series and took advantage of something that happened and made the best of it. No need to apologize for it, we just went out and did it."

One of those business-like approaches came Wednesday as it was all Timberwolves from the get-go. Mike Conley hit a 3-pointer that broke a 5-5 tie early in the first quarter, and Minnesota never trailed again. Its lead grew to seven by the end of the third quarter, and to 15 by the halftime break. During the third quarter, the advantage grew to as many as 25 points.

It was one of Minnesota's more balanced games of the postseason as six players finished in double figures, led by Julius Randle's game-high 29 points (he also added eight rebounds and five assists). Golden State threw double teams at Anthony Edwards, and he made the right play time and time again. He set a playoff career high with 12 assists and scored 22 points on efficient 7-for-13 shooting, becoming the sixth-youngest player to reach 1,000 playoff points in the process.

Edwards' approach and playmaking was the leading contributor to a franchise playoff record of 36 assists and a pretty incredible shooting night. Minnesota shot 49 for 78 from the field overall (63%) and 13 for 31 from 3-point range (42%).

"As long as we get good shots, it doesn't matter who's shooting," Edwards said.

Everyone was getting good shots. Rudy Gobert was involved early with eight first-quarter points and finished his night with 17 points and eight rebounds. Conley turned in a vintage performance and was also key to the strong start, scoring 11 points in the first half. He knocked down four shots from 3 and finished with 16 points, eight assists and six boards.

In addition to collecting four steals on the defensive end, Jaden McDaniels contributed 14 points. Donte DiVincenzo found his rhythm offensively, shooting 5 for 7 from the field, including 2 for 4 from 3, on his way to 13 points off the bench.

"Everybody stepped up and played well, led by our vets today," Finch said. "Mike, Rudy, Julius, they were really trying to lead the way. It was great to see Donte with a big game out there again, so just a really solid effort by everybody."

Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga did their best to keep the Warriors within reach, scoring 28 and 26 points, respectively, but it simply wasn't enough to match Minnesota's firepower. The Warriors cut what was once a 25-point deficit down to single digits on a Moses Moody 3 in the fourth quarter, but they never truly threatened the comeback.

It was another quiet game from Jimmy Butler, who attempted just 11 shots and finished with 17 points.

Now right around the corner is their second straight trip to the Western Conference finals. They're not satisfied with that.

"It feels good to get to that step, but stomach is not full. Not at all. It's just one step," Gobert said.

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