17-year NBA veteran and Timberwolves guard Mike Conley is the closest he’s ever been to the NBA Finals after winning Game4 of the Western Conference Finals with Minnesota, Andscape’s Marc J. Spears writes. The Wolves went down 3-0 to Dallas but held off elimination on Tuesday night with a 105-100 win.
“This is the biggest game I’ve had in my career,” Conley said after Game 4. “The next game is the biggest game I’ve had in my career. It’s the biggest win. Honestly, it is. If you look at the board and see the 7 up there, that is how many games we have left to win. That is how many we are away from a ring.”
On a roster with an average age under 27 years old and with a franchise star (Anthony Edwards) who was 6 years old when he entered the league, Conley is the veteran presence who has helped propel this team. Conley’s averaging 11.9 points and 6.0 assists through 14 playoff games this season.
Conley also made the Western Conference Finals in 2013 with Memphis, but he and his team were swept by San Antonio. Tuesday’s win was his first career conference finals win. While Dallas holds a commanding 3-1 lead, Minnesota’s players and coaches continue exude confidence, Spears writes.
“It’s one game. Game 5 is Game 7,” Conley said. “This is all we got. Keep our mentality like that. Don’t look at the circus that surrounds us and all the stuff you been hearing. Keep the faith more than anything. The testament with the guys tonight is that we truly didn’t believe this was our last game … This doesn’t come around very often. So, when you get this chance, give everything you got. Don’t be afraid to fail.”
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- The Trail Blazers hosted Louisiana Tech’s Isaiah Crawford, UConn’s Alex Karaban, Arizona’s Caleb Love, Boston College’s Quinten Post, Indiana’s Kel’el Ware and Tyler Smith of the G League Ignite in a pre-draft workout on Tuesday, according to the Rose Garden Report’s Sean Highkin (Twitter link). Portland holds picks Nos. 7, 14, 34 and 40. Since the time of the workout, Karaban withdrew from the draft and CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reports Love is doing the same (Twitter link). Of the players listed, Ware is the highest ranked on ESPN’s best available list (No. 25).
- Speculating how the Blazers will manage having four picks in this year’s class, Highkin observes that Portland has 14 players on guaranteed contracts next season in part one of his mailbag this week (Substack link). If the Blazers do use all four picks, that would likely mean some combination of Malcolm Brogdon, Jerami Grant, Robert Williams III, Matisse Thybulle and Anfernee Simons are out the door or at the very least, being shopped, Highkin writes. Highkin explains that recent Blazers second-rounders (Rayan Rupert, Jabari Walker) have earned standard contracts, complicating matters at picks 34 and 40. As for likely targets at No. 7, Cody Williams and Tidjane Salaun could be in play, according to Highkin. In the second part of his mailbag (Substack link), he further breaks down what the Blazers will do with their veterans this offseason.
- The Nuggets don’t have much money to spend on outside free agents this offseason and may be limited to minimum-salary players. Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports analyzes 10 potential low-salary free agents who could make sense, such as Utah’s Kris Dunn, Los Angeles’s Mason Plumlee and Philadelphia’s Kyle Lowry.
- Thunder general manager Sam Presti emphasized he’s focused on building around what he already has. Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman writes this season showed Oklahoma City’s roster needs more time to continue to grow than to make outside moves. Presti also said he doesn’t regret not being more aggressive at the deadline and is pleased with where the roster stands. “I know this is not going to go over well for people,” Presti said “But what we have is an appearance … We have shown up to the postseason. We’ll arrive if we can replicate that. Because there’s a lot of teams that have gotten to the playoffs for one year and then they, for whatever reasons, may not be able to get back there. So the way I would look at that is you can either pick the lock or you can crack the code. Picking the lock, you’re stealing it. Cracking the code, you own it.“