Win Or Lose, The Wolves Have Had An Awesome Season [OPINION]

The Timberwolves will host the Denver Nuggets Thursday night for game six of their best-of-seven series. The Wolves have seen a 2-0 series lead flip to a 3-2 series deficit and need a win Thursday to keep their season going.

After the Wolves dropped games three and four in Minneapolis, the discourse surrounding the team went from fans crawling out of the woodwork to support the Wolves to sour grapes in a hurry. If I had a dime for every time I heard a variation of the 'Another Minnesota sports team lets us down,' I could afford several Laffy Taffys.

The fact is, this was an awesome season for the Timberwolves. Full stop. In fact, an argument could be made that this team is as good- or better than- as any other team in Timberwolves history.

The Wolves led the entire conference for most of the season. Center Naz Reid was named Sixth Man of the Year, Rudy Gobert was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year, point guard Mike Conley was named NBA Teammate of the Year and coach Chris Finch was a finalist for Coach of the Year. It was a fun ride!

The fact is, teams rarely climb the championship ladder in one graceful motion. Even Michael Jordan's Bulls had three straight first-round exits, a second round exit and two conference finals losses BEFORE winning their first championship.

Should the Wolves lose Thursday, against the defending champions (featuring the winner of three of the last four MVP awards Nikola Jokic, who finished second last year in the MVP race), they will learn from it and be better for it next season and the ones after.

The Wolves' best player, Anthony Edwards, is just 22 years old, Jaden McDaniels 23, Naz Reid 24 and even nine-year veteran Karl-Anthony Towns is just 28. In theory, this team should be a force in the West for years to come.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the game. Let's get rid of the loser mentality that has infected so many Minnesota sports fans (myself DEFINITELY included).