The Timberwolves are on pace for one of their best seasons — maybe the best. Their .709 win percentage at the All-Star break is slightly better than the 2003-04 team (.707) posted before the franchise’s longest playoff run.
The 2003-04 team, coached by Flip Saunders, had an MVP and Hall of Famer in Kevin Garnett and gained the No. 1 seed in the West.
This year’s deep Wolves could prove that the whole is greater than the sum of (several very good) parts the team had 20 years ago until Sam Cassell’s hip injury before the 2004 Western Conference finals loss to the Lakers dashed the Wolves’ championship hopes.
The Timberwolves are 39-16 after 55 games this season, best in the West; the 2003-04 Wolves were 40-15 at a similar point on their way to a franchise-record 58-victory season. They also each had two players and the coaching staff representing the West in the All-Star Game.
It’s difficult to compare statistics across 20 years because of just how different the NBA is today. Teams and players are far more efficient at shooting now and shoot more from long range, leading to higher-scoring games.
For example, this season’s Timberwolves hold their opponents to a league-low 106.7 points per game, but in 2004′s lower-scoring league, that would’ve been one of the worst defenses in the league.
Garnett’s Timberwolves were strong on both sides of the floor, finishing fifth in offensive rating and sixth in defensive rating. The 2004 team’s net rating of 6.1, which measures how much a team outscores its opponent by per 100 possessions, is comparable to the present Wolves’ 7.4 net rating, each ranking in the top four in the league.
Where Garnett’s Wolves in ‘04 had balance, the 2024 Timberwolves have skewed heavily toward defensive dominance. They hang around the league average in offense (17th), but Minnesota’s top-ranked defense this season is more than seven points per 100 possessions better than the league average.
