BleedGopher
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per Rand:
A win over the Lakers would have set up an epic, bruising NBA Finals against Detroit — which won the championship in a surprising five games over the star-studded Lakers. The Wolves won both regular season meetings with Detroit, both by one point — 80-79 and 88-87. Cassell’s two free throws helped ice that second win.
“We still took that Lakers team to six without one of our most clutch performers. To still take them to six, when I had never played point guard in my life …” Hoiberg said. “After Derek Fisher took the ball from me in one of those first games, I started throwing it to Kevin (Garnett) and running to the corner and letting him initiate the offense. Sam was an All-Star for a reason that season. He was such a clutch player. To miss that piece, I think it cost us a championship.”
If the Wolves would have won a championship, maybe Latrell Sprewell would have signed a long-term extension instead of uttering his famous quote about feeding his family. Maybe Cassell’s follow-up season would have been better. Head coach Flip Saunders almost certainly wouldn’t have been fired midway through 2004-05, just 51 games (25-26 record) removed from winning a title.
Maybe the Wolves build a bridge to better future — and don’t end up trading Garnett a few years later?
At the very least, we would probably think about the Wolves differently right now — as a team that won it all instead of a team whose crowning achievement was a Game 7 win in the conference semifinals, as great as that game was.
www.startribune.com
Howl Wolves!!
A win over the Lakers would have set up an epic, bruising NBA Finals against Detroit — which won the championship in a surprising five games over the star-studded Lakers. The Wolves won both regular season meetings with Detroit, both by one point — 80-79 and 88-87. Cassell’s two free throws helped ice that second win.
“We still took that Lakers team to six without one of our most clutch performers. To still take them to six, when I had never played point guard in my life …” Hoiberg said. “After Derek Fisher took the ball from me in one of those first games, I started throwing it to Kevin (Garnett) and running to the corner and letting him initiate the offense. Sam was an All-Star for a reason that season. He was such a clutch player. To miss that piece, I think it cost us a championship.”
If the Wolves would have won a championship, maybe Latrell Sprewell would have signed a long-term extension instead of uttering his famous quote about feeding his family. Maybe Cassell’s follow-up season would have been better. Head coach Flip Saunders almost certainly wouldn’t have been fired midway through 2004-05, just 51 games (25-26 record) removed from winning a title.
Maybe the Wolves build a bridge to better future — and don’t end up trading Garnett a few years later?
At the very least, we would probably think about the Wolves differently right now — as a team that won it all instead of a team whose crowning achievement was a Game 7 win in the conference semifinals, as great as that game was.
Would Wolves have won 2004 NBA title if Sam Cassell hadn't been injured?
This week in the Star Tribune, we ran a series that I helped curate on some significant "what-if" moments in Minnesota sports history. The premise was simple: take a landmark event or moment and imagine what might have have happened if that moment was changed. As part of that series, I asked for...
www.startribune.com
Howl Wolves!!