Before we send the Timberwolves into a) the offseason or b) NBA history, it makes sense to take a minute and think about what this team has done so far this season.

Specifically, in their Western Conference semifinal against the defending champion Denver Nuggets, which included at least two, and possibly three of the best victories I’ve seen from a Minnesota sports team in the 23 years I’ve been at the Pioneer Press.

No NBA team has ever rallied from a three-game playoff series deficit, so theoretically this Timberwolves team still has a chance for more greatness. Our eyes are telling us something different, that the Wolves — and particularly Anthony Edwards — are tired, and the Dallas Mavericks seem a little more ready for the moment.

Teams generally have to build a playoff resume before winning it all. At least, the Timberwolves have accomplished this. But there is something bigger at work here, and that it’s coming from the Timberwolves is an unexpected treat for Minnesota sports fans who lean toward being disappointed by the big picture rather than enjoy and savor the occasionally great moment.

The Wolves had three genuinely great games in their seven-game takedown of the Nuggets, including a 45-point victory to force Game 7 and, perhaps most notably, their late rally to clinch the series in Denver after being left for dead. But it’s Game 2 that stands out, a defensive clinic that thoroughly broke the Nuggets in the first half of a 106-80 victory at Ball Arena that seemed to come out of nowhere.

The Timberwolves had a good season, no doubt, but that win was astonishing.

It was just getting started as Twins writers furiously typed up their game stories on a 3-1 victory over Seattle, and a few of the televisions were tuned to the late broadcast. Reporters took turns checking the screen and updating those in the press box, and every reply was a variant on “Are you serious?”

It was the most surprising performance by a Minnesota sports team since the Vikings lost the NFC Championship Game to the New York Giants 41-0 at the Meadowlands, only in a good way. That loss, BTW, happened the day before a certain scribe started work in St. Paul, Jan. 14, 2001. Twenty-three years later, it’s referenced, on average, by Minnesota sports fans 32.7 times a year.

This time, the Minnesota team was on the other end. It was stunning.

It reminded a former Chicago sports fan of a 1984 NFL divisional playoff in Washington, D.C. Chicago won, 23-19, and for a teenage Bears fan who still cared, it felt like winning the lottery on Christmas morning. It was a totally unexpected performance by a team that had made the playoffs only twice in 21 years, and hadn’t won a postseason game since the NFL championship in 1963.

This is what the Timberwolves gave their fans this season, and the fact that it came from the most generally inadequate of all Minnesota’s pro sports teams made it even better. Or at least more astounding. The Minneapolis Miracle doesn’t hold a candle to it because the Vikings were expected to win that game — should have won that game — and, let’s face it, were a little lucky. The Timberwolves took it to Denver and never stopped.

It was like a bolt out of the blue for someone without a horse in the race. For an emotionally disconnected witness, it was the best Minnesota pro sports victory he has seen.

If the Wolves rally to win this series and give Minnesota its first NBA Finals since the Lakers were still in Minneapolis, they will have made history, and maybe that Game 2 conference semifinal victory gets a little lost. But if fatigue, history and Luka Doncic finally catch up to the Timberwolves on Thursday, that win remains the kind of thing a team — if not a franchise — can hold onto for future reference.

Don’t let your disappointment stop you from enjoying what the team, this particular team, showed everyone on May 6.

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Pablo Lopez has made big adjustments over his professional pitching career. The big ones, no surprises, came when he moved to high-A ball as a 20-year-old in 2017 in Modesto, Calif., and then throughout his first full major league season in 2019 in Miami.

At that point, the right-hander was adjusting to the uptick in competition. But 2022 was different. He got out of whack, then got really out of whack.

“I tried to do too much at some point, and it went from a little out of synch to a lot out of synch,” the Twins’ No. 1 starter said Wednesday. “Because I was doing too many things that I wasn’t used to.”

That’s not the case now, despite the fact that Lopez has struggled over his past three starts — 0-3 with a 9.00 earned-run average and 25 hits in 16 innings pitched. He spent his bullpen session before Wednesday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals at Target Field working on one thing.

“I went back to recovering some kind of rhythm on the mound,” he said afterward.

On May 9, Lopez was 4-2 with a 3.02 ERA, 55 strikeouts and eight walks in 48 innings. Since then, something has been off with his mechanics, specifically his movement above the rubber.

“Things were happening a little earlier than they should,” he said. “And this goes back to what feels right for me. Every pitcher is different. Our windups all look different, but our windups are all the same — we’re transferring power from one leg to the other.

“But we have different cues. One of my cues is slow and in control, give myself time, let it all happen at the end. And it looks like it was happening a little before the end.”

Lopez, 28, has become one of the majors’ most consistent starting pitchers. Last season, he threw 194 innings for the American League Central champs, going 11-9 with a 3.66 ERA and fanning 234, third in the majors. After the 2022 season, the Twins acquired him from the Marlins, sending Miami reigning AL batting champ Luis Arraez.

Almost immediately, Minnesota signed Lopez to a four-year, $73.5 million extension through 2027.

“I wanted to feel today that I wasn’t rushing, that I was giving myself enough time to build steam,” Lopez said after Wednesday’s session. “So, I’m building steam, I’m loading to then unload, and I wanted to unload at the right time. For me, that’s when I feel this foot landing firmly. That’s when I let go of the steam, when I step on the gas.”

Lopez is scheduled to start Friday in the opener of a three-game series at Houston.

Buxton rests

Center fielder Byron Buxton was given a day off on Wednesday after going 2 for 2 with a triple, two walks, stolen base and run scored in a 4-2 victory over the Royals on Tuesday.

Through one-third of the Twins’ season, Buxton has played in 37 of the team’s 58 games after knee and hip injuries limited him to 85 total games last season. After being limited to designated hitting in 2023, he has played 31 games in center.

“I look at the week when I’m looking at what Buck is going to be out there for,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He has been playing good. He had a great day yesterday. He wants to be out there seven days a week. Right now he won’t be out there seven days a week, but we’ll get him out there as much as we can. He’s doing well.”

Briefly

Third baseman Royce Lewis, on rehab assignment for a quad injury with Class AAA St. Paul, was not in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s game in Buffalo. He was hurt in the Twins’ first game this season after going 2 for 2 with a home run. … The Twins are in the middle of their third annual “Twins Week of Service,” during which members of all six baseball organizations volunteer to help for underserved communities.

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The last remaining stoplight on Minnesota Highway 36 between Stillwater and Century Avenue will be replaced with a $40 million grade-separated interchange with buttonhook-style ramps in 2027, officials announced this week.

More than 170 accidents have occurred at the intersection of 36 and Lake Elmo Avenue over the past 10 years, including a fatal crash in 2018. An average of 45,000 vehicles pass through the intersection each day.

Construction will start in the spring of 2026, said Andrew Giesen, project manager for Washington County Public Works.

The new grade-separated interchange will improve safety, reduce congestion and improve bikeability and walkability in the area, Giesen said.

The project team includes Washington County, the city of Grant, the city of Lake Elmo and the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Officials conducted an intersection study and evaluated more than 20 different possible interchanges, including at-grade and grade-separated options, Giesen said. The buttonhook-style ramps will provide full access to Minnesota 36 through frontage roads and dedicated acceleration and deacceleration lanes along the state highway, he said.

“It’s a significant safety improvement,” he said. “This design rose to the top because it’s the ‘right-fit’ design for the intersection. We achieve the project goals and minimize the overall project cost by minimizing the purchase of necessary private property and minimizing the overall project footprint.”

A rendering showing the design of a planned $40 million grade-separated interchange with buttonhook-style ramps that will be built at Minnesota Highway 36 and Lake Elmo Avenue. Officials unveiled the new design on Tuesday, May 28, 2024. (Courtesy of Washington County)

Drivers no longer will be able to turn directly from one road to the other. When the new alignment is in place, they’ll get access through frontage roads and dedicated acceleration and deacceleration lanes along the state highway.

Robert Bursik, 54, of Amery, Wis., died in February 2018 on Minnesota 36 after he was struck by a semitrailer that sped through a red light in Lake Elmo.

Officials say Samuel Hicks, 29, of Independence, Wis., was looking at his cellphone for eight seconds before he slammed into Bursik’s car at 63 mph while it was stopped at Lake Elmo Avenue.

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According to the criminal complaint, Hicks was texting with his girlfriend and using the Zillow real estate app to look up information about a house.

For more information about the road project, go to www.co.washington.mn.us/LakeElmoAvenue.

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