Friday night at Target Center, Timberwolves fans got a glimpse of what could have been — and what could be.
They saw D'Angelo Russell, who jilted the Wolves in free agency, hit jumper after jumper on his way to 52 points.
But they also saw another sight they have wanted for the past few seasons — the potential rebirth of Andrew Wiggins.
It was Wiggins who put the team on his skinny shoulders and prevented the Wolves from an embarrassing loss to the depleted Warriors, in a 125-119 overtime victory.
"We've seen Wiggs building to what we imagine he could be and what we believe he could be," forward Robert Covington said. "He just has so many good positive people around him that are pushing him, that believe in him, and that's contagious."
It was contagious enough for the Wolves to get by a Golden State team that is without injured stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Wiggins turned in his fourth consecutive strong performance, scoring 40 points on 17-for-33 shooting to go with seven assists, five rebounds and no turnovers. He made sure the Wolves overcame the absence of Jeff Teague (illness) and Shabazz Napier (right hamstring strain) for the second consecutive game by taking over ballhandling duties, especially down the stretch as the Wolves tried to keep pace with an on-fire Russell.
"It's just exciting to watch," Josh Okogie said. "He's very talented and he works extremely hard, contrary to what a lot of people believe, and I'm just happy to see an outcome like that happen for him."