The greatest comeback in NBA playoff history was not yet complete when Mike Conley went to the ground to get his hands on a loose ball. His Minnesota Timberwolves were leading the defending champion Denver Nuggets by eight points with 1 minute, 47 seconds to play in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals. The outcome was still in doubt, and Conley’s right leg was throbbing.
Nuggets wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and a banged-up Conley dove on the floor and both secured the ball. The 36-year-old Wolves point guard pulled himself up off the court and told his teammates not to worry.
“As soon as I walked around and knew I was going to have to jump, I told them I’m gonna win the jump ball. I promise you,” Conley said after practice on Thursday, the day before the Wolves play host to the Denver Nuggets. “This is what I do.”
At that moment, it did not matter that Caldwell-Pope was five inches taller and five years younger than him. It did not matter that he was battling a strained right soleus, one of the strongest muscles in the calf that plays a big part in the body’s ability to walk, run and jump. All that mattered to Conley was he had not been to a Western Conference finals in 12 years, and the best chance for the Wolves to get there was him getting to that jump ball before KCP.
“I was already pumped, already ready,” Conley said. “I was telling guys where to be, like be right here, I’m going to tip it right here. Make sure you get there.”
Referee Scott Foster tossed the ball in the air and Conley got there with his left hand first, tipping it back toward the half-court line. Jaden McDaniels and Jamal Murray scrambled to get control of it, and they ended up in a tie-up, too. McDaniels won that tip, giving possession back to Minnesota. The Wolves did not score, but they took another 15 seconds off the clock. Even more significant was seeing the oldest player on the floor lay it all on the line. It was just the boost the Wolves needed to finish the job.
“I think it just kind of showed where I was at,” Conley said. “People knew I was on one leg. They knew I couldn’t really move like that. For me to win the jump at that stage of the game, when you need it, it said a lot about where I was at. I wanted them to see that.”
That is the role Conley has played since he arrived in Minnesota in a trade from Utah in February 2023. He has been doing whatever it takes, whatever the team needs.
At first, it was showing a disjointed group how to play around Rudy Gobert and maximize his talents on both ends. Then it became organizing the offense to make sure that Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and Gobert could mesh well enough to back the best defense in the league. It was shooting a career-high 44 percent from 3-point range last season to give all those bigs the space to operate in the half court. Finally, it was winning jump balls in the biggest of moments.
“Yeah, he’s a small guy but you know he doesn’t have a small mindset, so it’s good to see stuff like that,” Naz Reid said.
This season, they need something else from Conley. As the Wolves shift their identity from the big team that bullied opponents on defense last season to a more conventional lineup aimed at increasing their offense this season, they need Conley to get back to the essential player he’s been nearly his entire career.
Hampered by a left wrist injury, Conley is shooting 27 percent from 3-point range and a staggering 11 percent (1 of 9) on 2s. He also has been targeted defensively by bigger and quicker guards, including in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.
In the very small four-game sample size this season, the Wolves (2-2) have a net rating of minus-14.1 when he is on the court versus when he is off, per Cleaning the Glass. He just has not looked like the same player, and his bothersome shooting wrist likely bears a lot of the blame. Conley said it stems from a torn ligament years ago that has not fully healed. He needs surgery when his career is over, but it requires a recovery that he doesn’t have time for in his basketball twilight.
“When I’m 50, I’ll get surgery,” Conley said. “Not right now.”
Conley aggravated his wrist on a fall last season. What’s encouraging is that he can play with it, and he shot the lights out last season even on days when it was sore. But it did cause him to change his entire summer routine. An avid golfer, Conley couldn’t pick up a club all offseason because he was letting the wrist rest. It also prevented him from getting his normal shots up and doing his typical strength training, so he has started the season a little rusty.
“I’m sure it’s affecting his shot to some degree,” coach Chris Finch said. “His shots all look good. They look like they’re gonna go down. A lot have rattled out, but that’s really the only thing I’ve kind of noticed.”
There are signs of his shot coming around. Conley is 4 of 10 from 3 in the last two games. In the 26 minutes he was on the court against Toronto last weekend, the Wolves outscored the Raptors by 17 points. But there is still plenty of work to be done.
“The pain and stuff is gone. But there’s some times where I’ll shoot it, think ‘Ah, that’s good,’ and it’ll be like two feet short,” Conley said. “So you’re just trying to figure out how to gauge the differences and continue to work through that as the season goes forward.”
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A rematch with the Nuggets on Friday night might be just the thing to get Conley going. Denver’s return will certainly bring memories of that epic playoff series. Conley hit 45 percent of his 3s in that series, had 40 assists, just seven turnovers and also was part of a suffocating Wolves defense.
He did it all with searing pain in his right leg that made it impossible for him to roll from his heel to his toes. When he would take jumpers, it would look like he was jumping off of two legs, but Conley would shift his weight as he elevated to make sure his left leg was doing all of the work.
“We’re that far into the season, you don’t want to reinjure anything,” Conley said. “But you also know that you can help by being out there by doing things you can do. You don’t get those moments that often, so I wasn’t going to miss it.”
By the time the Wolves reached the conference finals against Dallas, the pain in Conley’s calf was severely limiting his movement and effectiveness. His efficiency dropped and his defense slipped. It was no coincidence that the Wolves couldn’t find the answers for the Mavericks when Conley was weakened.
He turned 37 in October and signed a two-year contract extension last winter. The Wolves are trying to lighten his workload this season — he is playing 23.8 minutes per game so far — in hopes that he will be fresh for the playoffs because he is that important to what they do. They know that if this new-look team is going to come together, Conley is going to play a major role in making that happen.
There is not a player or coach on the team that doesn’t believe in him because Conley has shown them all too many times exactly what he does.
“I’m not worried about it. I’ve been through it before,” Conley said. “It’s going to be ugly for a week or so, and then we’ll figure it out.”
(Photo of Mike Conley: Jordan Johnson / NBAE via Getty Images)
