DENVER – For two decades, Game 7 of the 2004 second-round series in which the Timberwolves beat the Sacramento Kings stood as the franchise's shining moment.
It finally got some company Sunday night, as this Wolves team, 20 years to the day of that victory, came through with a performance that will echo in team history with a 98-90 Game 7 comeback victory over the defending champion Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena.
In the ultimate test of their mental fortitude, a team that got tossed out of the playoffs last season in five games by this same Denver team came back from a 20-point second-half deficit in a hostile environment, and for only the second time in team history, the Wolves are on to the Western Conference finals, where they will meet the Dallas Mavericks with Game 1 on Wednesday at Target Center.