If you watched the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrate after their play-in tournament win, you’d think they were celebrating much more than a seven seed beating an eight seed.
And JJ Redick has no problem with that.
T-Wolves players went nuts after their win Tuesday over the Los Angeles Clippers. Minnesota, which now will be playing in its second playoff series in the last 18 seasons, is a group of guys with chips on their shoulder like Pat Beverley and D’Angelo Russell. There are others like star player Karl-Anthony Towns, who has dealt with major personal hardship off the floor.
So, that win Tuesday might have seemed like just a play-in win, but it really, really mattered to those guys. And while many were quick to poke fun at the celebration, Redick had no problem with it.
In fact, he took aim at those jesting the T-Wolves during his podcast “The Old Man and the Three.”
“For all the knocks against professional athletes (not caring), we witnessed in real time them showing that it matters," Redick said. "Them showing how much they cared. They cared, the city cared, the fans cared, the team cared, the players cared. They cared. And we’re going to make fun of that? It’s wrong. It’s wrong.
“And I will say this too: I recognize that I did not win an NBA championship, but there were moments in my career – in high school, in college, in the NBA – when you go through something, you set a goal or whatever it may be, or you go through a series that is so hard-fought, yes, you get emotional.
“I cried after we beat the Spurs in 2015. It was the first round. Did I feel like I had accomplished some great thing, that I had a ring on my finger? F--k no. But you know what, it was emotional because it f-----g mattered and I cared. And to go through that and to go through everything that that team has gone through, I’m off of it. I’m off of it. I’m not a fan of the jest towards them.”
Now, Minnesota runs into another young and exciting group in the Memphis Grizzlies. It’ll be tough, but the Timberwolves have the potential to hang around with the second-seeded Grizzlies in what promises to be a fascinating matchup of rising teams in the West.
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