What was this feeling, with three-pointers falling, a point guard making dynamic plays and a crowd that was energized on its feet multiple times?
Why does it feel so foreign, and who are these guys anyway?
A different team took the floor for the Timberwolves at a sold-out Target Center on Saturday night vs. the Clippers in a stunning 142-115 victory than the one in Wednesday's listless loss to Atlanta. That's both literally and figuratively.
That was a group that had lost 13 in a row and seemingly forgotten how to win. Three trades and eight new players later, there was a totally different vibe for a franchise in need of a change.
For a night it looked like all the pieces fit — and the biggest one didn't even play.
"It's only one game. There's going to be growing pains, there's going to be nights that you don't make 26 threes and you don't have 39 assists," coach Ryan Saunders said. "I understand that. But I also like that you can kind of see glimpses … it makes you positive about what could be to come."
Malik Beasley lit nets on fire. James Johnson provided a healthy dollop of defense and had an efficient offensive night while holdover Jordan McLaughlin, given the keys at point guard, was a dynamic playmaker off the dribble for a team that won for the first time since Jan. 9, against a championship contender with its big guns playing while D'Angelo Russell sat out because of a right quad contusion.
"We've got a great group of guys," Beasley said. "[President] Gersson [Rosas] said it's about patience, getting the right guys and building a chemistry together — and we did that in one day."
