Despite flaws, Wolves making this a season to remember

Tony Oliva and 50 Cent, two renowned rappers, sat courtside Sunday night, proving that this Timberwolves team appeals to just about every demographic, even the perpetually paranoid Minnesota sports fan.

F. Scott Fitzgerald — up there with Crunch as two of the most famous Minnesotans of all time — once wrote something that Wolves fans should remember as their team nears the trade deadline, All-Star Game and postseason:

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

Here are the pertinent opposed ideas regarding this team:

• The 2023-24 Timberwolves have been exceptional. They are on their way to either the best or second-best regular season in franchise history and should become the second Wolves team to win a playoff series.

• They were also, of late, inspiring paranoia in a state where many sports fans revel in pessimism.

On Sunday night, the Wolves defeated Houston 111-90 at Target Center, continuing to play the kind of funky, clunky basketball that has defined their last month, yet moving another step toward becoming the best story in the NBA.

The victory means that the Wolves’ Chris Finch will coach at the All-Star Game. “I’m sure those guys won’t listen to what I have to say,” Finch joked. “So it will be like any other game.”

Wolves players doused Finch with water when he entered the locker room after the victory. It was a fitting tribute. This team hasn’t earned champagne yet, but reserved celebrations are in order.

Rudy Gobert produced another one of his now-patented, All-Star-quality performances, dominating the paint (with 13 rebounds and forceful defense), scoring efficiently (7-for-9 from the field) and even adding one of his occasional midcourt steals and dunks.

At halftime, Anthony Edwards had five points on 1-of-7 shooting. Houston enforcer Dillon Brooks was muscling him, and Edwards looked so uncomfortable that on one first-half play, Edwards popped Brooks in the chest to create space.

Then came the third quarter, in which Edwards made nine of 13 shots and scored 22 points to break open a close game.

“I was just watching the show,” Wolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns said. “I had the best seat in the house.”

The Wolves reversed a recent trend of blowing large fourth-quarter leads and won on a night in which the four Western Conference teams vying for the top seed all played, almost simultaneously.

That’s right — Wolves fans are going to have three more months to watch scoreboards and meaningful basketball.

The Wolves had won just four of their previous eight games, and on Friday they blew a lead to lose to Orlando at Target Center.

On Sunday night, they again failed to move the ball on offense. With 5:12 left in the third quarter, four of the eight Wolves who had played had not recorded an assist.

They played a sloppy third quarter to keep Houston in the game.

Towns and Edwards had made just three of 17 shots at the half.

Edwards again drew a technical foul and complained repeatedly to the officials.

Regardless of their unfixed flaws, those who watched the Wolves in the Metrodome understand that a season like this is a luxury.

The Wolves, for perhaps the second time in franchise history, are good enough that their flaws are annoying, not fatal.

And they might be about to fix one of those flaws.

They lack a true backup point guard. Shake Milton hasn’t shot well enough to stay in the rotation. Jordan McLaughlin is best used in bursts.

The most obvious move available to the Wolves is also the correct one, if they can afford to part with the requisite assets: Trading for Washington Wizards point guard Tyus Jones, or someone like him — a ballhandler who would reduce their turnovers and give them a starting-caliber player as a backup.

Finch and his players have made this the season the Wolves should go all-in and try to replace water baths with champagne showers.