Act like they've been there before? Not this Timberwolves team

To read this column, you leap atop your kitchen counter, shirtless, with tears streaming down your cheeks.

This is a column about the greatest victory in Timberwolves history, the reaction to that victory, and the reaction to the reaction to that victory.

If you are Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal or Kenny Smith, you could not possibly understand what happened Tuesday night at Target Center.

Here's what happened: The Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the worst franchises in the history of franchises — worse even than Chi-Chi's — earned the most impressive victory in their woeful history.

They had their best team in 2003-04, but that team was built to be great, for at least a season, and it had Kevin Garnett, one of the greatest players of all time, and it was the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

The Wolves should have beaten Denver in the opening series, and they did. They should have beaten Sacramento in the second series, and they did, and they probably shouldn't have let it go to seven games. Then they lost to the second-seeded Lakers because Sam Cassell did something really stupid.

That team achieved. It did not overachieve.

Now it's time to address the second-best team in Wolves history, except there isn't one.

You're going to celebrate Stephon Marbury breaking up with Garnett at the worst possible time? You're going to celebrate Jimmy Butler's franchise teardown because his team won one playoff game before getting blown out by Houston and he finally had his breakup talk with Tom Thibodeau?

That's what no one from outside this market can comprehend: that it was an out-of-body experience to watch what the Timberwolves did this season and on Tuesday night.

This team overachieved, winning 23 more games than the Wolves did a year ago. Then, faced with a play-in game and a chance to secure one of the most desirable 2 seed vs. 7 seed matchups in memory, they had their best player go AWOL, fell behind against a hot team with an excellent coach and an on-fire star in Paul George, and rallied dramatically to win, riding an incandescent performance by a 20-year-old rising superstar in Anthony Edwards.

To recap the three biggest victories in Timberwolves franchise history:

To further break down the reactions to this victory:

Because they have that perspective, they haven't spent two seconds thinking about the Wolves franchise, what the fan base has endured and what it meant on Tuesday to see this team find a way to win.

The Wolves have an excellent coach, Chris Finch, who is signed long-term. They were wise to trade for Beverley and extend his deal. They have one of the best 20-year-old players in league history in Edwards. Karl-Anthony Towns blew a gasket on Tuesday but remains a star player, and I would expect him to play extremely well against Memphis.

This team brought fans back to Target Center after all those years of frustration, and brought people back to downtown Minneapolis after all of our troubles.

This team has depth, mental toughness and a likability that few other good teams in Wolves history could manage.

Pros are supposed to act like they've been there before, but the Wolves have not been here before. They have not had a sustainable winner, ever.

Until now.