Mike Conley corralled a loose ball in the deep corner Friday night. He immediately looked to the other end of the court and saw two options: Rudy Gobert running down the middle of the floor and Karl-Anthony Towns positioned on the wing near the three-point line.
"I saw Rudy first and I was like, ahhhh, I'm not going to throw that one," Conley said. "I looked at KAT and was like, Yeah, I think I'll throw to that guy."
Conley set his feet and mimicked a quarterback rifling a deep pass. Towns caught it and, in one motion, flipped a pass to the rim where Gobert finished the tic-tac-toe sequence with an alley-oop dunk.
On the sideline, Wolves coach Chris Finch watched Conley wind up and fire the ball three-quarters of the court and thought to himself, What is he doing?
Then he saw the result — a signature moment in a 120-95 victory over Oklahoma City in the play-in tournament — and the coach came to a familiar conclusion.
"Trust Mike," Finch said.
Bingo. That's it. Trust Mike.
The Wolves finally have a point guard who can be trusted, which is as good a reason as any to feel optimistic entering a playoff series against top-seeded Denver starting Sunday.
The lasting image of the Wolves' quick exit from the playoffs last season was Finch deciding to bench $30 million point guard D'Angelo Russell in the fourth quarter of the elimination game. Finch turned to backup Jordan McLaughlin with the season hanging by a thread against Memphis because Russell couldn't be trusted in that moment.
Jettisoning Russell to the Lakers and acquiring Conley stands as a victory for a team that desperately needed the maturity and professionalism that the 16-year veteran has brought to the court and locker room.
Conley is a calming presence to everyone around him. His basketball intelligence is evident as he orchestrates the offense. He always seems to make the right play with the ball in his hands, and he's a tough defender.
Finch called his point guard a "stud" after Conley posted 14 points, three assists, three steals and a plus-24 rating in the play-in clincher.
Asked how Conley's poise helps teammates, Finch cracked, "It does a lot for me, I know that."
Conley has put to rest any questions about how much he has left physically at age 35 with 1,000-plus games on his legs. He averaged 14 points and five assists while shooting 42% from three-point range in 24 regular-season games since joining the team.
His outside shooting has been a pleasant surprise. His value as a wise, respected voice cannot be overstated.
"When you're the point guard and you have that kind of poise, everyone feels a little more relaxed," Towns said. "It's great that the point guard has the most experience of all of us on the team."
That experience gives Conley credibility when he talks. This will be his 10th trip to the playoffs. He played for Memphis in 2011 when the eighth-seeded Grizzlies ousted top-seeded San Antonio in six games.
Conley shared with his Wolves teammates a few days ago important lessons he learned from that experience.
"Don't go in here thinking that it's going to never happen," he said. "It happened. I was a part of it. You have to go get it to win it."
Conley prefers to teach young teammates by how he handles his own preparation with diet, film study, extra work and all the other ways that make him a pro's pro.
As a young player in Memphis, he had Shane Battier as a mentor. Battier used to pull out a scouting report and quiz Conley before games, going so far as to ask Conley to name the officials that night.
"I'm like, man, I guess this is how it is," Conley said. "What vets do, guys who have won championships, that's the detail you've got to have. You can't just go home and play video games."
Conley arrived from Utah in February hoping "to fit in as best as I can." He has become invaluable in so many ways. The Wolves will lean on his veteran presence in the playoffs.
And when the pressure gets cranked up and doubt creeps in, Finch and his players have a calming reminder. Trust Mike.
