“We can win on any given night.”
What else is Andrew Wiggins supposed to say after his team just became the second squad to defeat the 69-9 Warriors in Golden State this season?
That the Timberwolves got lucky? That they wouldn’t win a seven-game series against the Dubs? That this was all a fluke, and the basketball gods will make sure the wins and losses even out over time?
No, Wiggins is going to show some faith in himself and his team for coming up big in an even bigger, nationally-televised game. And that’s exactly what he did Tuesday night during his postgame interview with Turner’s Lewis Johnson after his Wolves earned a 124-117 overtime win against the Warriors.
Here are some snippets of what play-by-play man Marv Albert called “the delusional interview of the season”:
“They’re physical. You know, we got to them. Our team’s good. We can win on any given night.”
…
“We’re right there. Overtime, it came down to the best team in the last five minutes. We played hard. We played physical. We made shots. KAT made some big shots down the stretch. We came out with the win.”
…
“They’re the best team with the best record right now. So, we came in the game thinking, we’ve got to beat them…We want to make the playoffs, and this is a team that we’re gonna have to beat, you know, in the playoffs, to win the playoffs.”
Albert and his broadcast partner, Chris Webber, had quite the pithy exchange to follow:
Albert: Did he say, we could win on any given night? So, we had, let’s see, 26 given nights?
Webber: And then he said, ‘this is a team we’re gonna have to be in the playoffs.’ Slow down, young fella. Congratulations on tonight. Slow down.
Albert: We vote that the delusional interview of the season.
The Timberwolves are just 26-52 on the season, but Wiggins’ confidence isn’t completely unfounded. The 21-year-old is almost averaging his age in points per game. Meanwhile, he’s far from the only young talent on the roster.
Karl-Anthony Towns is on his way to a unanimous Rookie of the Year victory and has already established himself as the best player on the team and one of the best centers in the NBA. Ricky Rubio is in place. Zach LaVine is becoming productive and is finally get run at the off-guard, a natural fit for his score-first mentality. Players like Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng are proving to be consequential contributors. Meanwhile, the team is going to add even more young talent this offseason with yet another high draft pick.
The Wolves have reason to be confident heading into next year, especially if they bring in a big-time coach to run things in place of interim coach Sam Mitchell this summer. Wiggins may just be preparing for a future during which we talk about Minnesota the same way we discuss Oklahoma City.
