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Timberwolves, and their bigs, get last laugh against defending champs

Published

2 years ago

May 21, 2024

Timberwolves, and their bigs, get last laugh against defending champs

DENVER — The notion that the Minnesota Timberwolves’ magic began and ended with Rudy Gobert was so hilariously apropos.

They were down 20 points against the defending champion Denver Nuggets with 22 minutes left to play when the NBA’s most divisive player sparked a turnaround for the ages.

History was on the Nuggets’ side, with teams that led at halftime by at least 15 points in Game 7s having gone 21-0 to that point (Indiana had joined that list against the Knicks earlier in the day). Charles Barkley was too, as the Hall of Famer and TNT analyst was calling for Minnesota coach Chris Finch to “take Gobert out the game.”

But then Nikola Jokić lost Gobert on the left wing, and Karl-Anthony Towns found the French big man with a dump-off pass for a dunk with 9:51 left in the third quarter that most observers — yours truly included — thought very little of at the time.

A quick confession about something that happened on press row right around that time: For the first time in 20 years covering the Association, I prematurely booked my flight and hotel in the wrong city for the subsequent series because, well, it just felt like it was over. Off to Denver for Game 1 of the West Finals against Dallas on Wednesday.

Or … not.

By the time this slog of a game reached the 7:43 mark of the fourth quarter, when Gobert buried that miraculous spinning fadeaway from the left side that was so unexpectedly Jokić-esque, the Timberwolves had gone on a 41-17 run that featured all that was so good about their resilient program.

The suffocating defense that had come to define them was back, with the Nuggets missing 15 of 21 shots during that span (Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. were a combined 1 of 8). Meanwhile, Minnesota turned the tide on the rebounding front in the process — the Wolves were outrebounded 29-18 in the first half, but had a 17-7 edge in that stretch.

“It showed us who we are, because the coaches believed in us even though at halftime — even in the third — we were down 20. They were like, ‘Just keep making runs. Keep making runs,’” said Anthony Edwards, who had just four points in the first half, but finished with 16 points (on 6 of 24 shooting), eight rebounds, seven assists and a plus-11 mark. “And It showed us who we are, man. Once we really lock in on the defensive end — because offensively we played okay — but when we really lock in on the defensive end, man, we are a hell of a team to beat.”

The Timberwolves offense that had sputtered all night was suddenly alive because of the defense. Nearly every player of significance pitched in for a 15-of-25 shooting effort that propelled the Timberwolves to their first West finals appearance since 2004 after their 98-90 win. But that shot by Gobert was the chef’s kiss, the kind of lasting image that should spawn a basketball section in the Louvre.

MY GOODNESS, BIG RU. pic.twitter.com/S2XEQaummo
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 20, 2024

To hear Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns discuss it afterward, when they sat side-by-side at the news conference and hilariously recapped the way the game had turned around, was to understand the cohesion of personality and personnel that has played such a big part in their hoops story to this point.

“The Rudy Gobert turnaround was crazy,” Towns proclaimed.

“When Rudy hit the turnaround, I was like, ‘Yeah, we’ve probably got ‘em,” Edwards said with a laugh. “I know that’ll kill the whole — that’ll kill everything. Big shout-out to Big Ru’, man. He hit a turnaround on their ass.”

“On God’s day, too,” said Towns, who has so impressively evolved from being the Timberwolves’ franchise centerpiece player to this selfless and capable No. 2 behind Edwards. “On God’s day, too.”

It wasn’t just the Lord’s day, though. It was the 20-year anniversary of Minnesota’s Game 7 win over Sacramento in the West semifinals, the last time the franchise made it to the West finals. Kevin Garnett, who just so happened to turn 48 on Sunday as well, had famously promised to bring all the proverbial artillery to that Game 7 showdown against the Kings.

This decisive moment, more than anything, was a case of the Nuggets forgetting there are 48 minutes in an NBA game.

Murray came out swinging, scoring 24 of his 33 points in the first half after an atrocious Game 6 performance in which he’d missed 14 of 18 shots. If he was going to keep playing like that, and if Edwards was going to keep letting all those Nuggets double teams take the ball out of his hands when it mattered most, the rest was fait accompli. But then the redemptive arc took hold.

Towns, who so many had pegged as the odd man out when the Timberwolves’ salary cap sheet became a point of focus after the Gobert trade in the summer of 2022, carried the otherwise-awful Wolves offense throughout while doing a capable job guarding Jokić.

He hit 8 of 14 shots in all for 23 points, with 12 rebounds to boot, while posting a plus-10 mark. As Edwards walked with Towns to their joint news conference, he made a bold statement that should be considered within the full context of the Nuggets environment.

“They didn’t have no answer for Karl,” Edwards said as he walked. “Karl’s the baddest big on the planet.”

Here in this Ball Arena, where Jokić has won three of the past four MVP awards and where Denver’s 2023 title broke a half-century championship drought for the franchise, Edwards decided to declare Towns’ place among the best bigs of them all.

Yet as salvation stories go, none of the Timberwolves’ can compare to Gobert. Even with his subpar first half that re-sparked the conversation about whether he is a winning player — a debate that has raged on for years now and led to his unwelcome distinction as the league’s most overrated player in the latest The Athletic player poll — Gobert found a way to have the last laugh.

He finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and a plus-10 rating. Including the first round, when the Timberwolves swept the Phoenix Suns, Gobert now has a plus-minus mark of plus-111 that is the best on the team (Edwards is second at plus-103). But sure, Chuck, tell us again how Gobert is unplayable when it matters most.

“I don’t watch those guys, so I don’t know what they talk about, but they have to talk about something,” Gobert said when asked about Barkley’s commentary. “But yeah, I’m glad (Timberwolves) coach (Chris Finch) didn’t listen to his advice.”

Of all the Timberwolves folks who represented their team’s willingness to fight, Finch might top the list. He tore his patellar tendon after a collision with Mike Conley in Game 4 of the first-round series against the Suns, then spent the second round sitting in the second row while assistant coach Micah Nori assumed the vast majority of the sideline duties.

But late in Game 7 against the Nuggets, when every possession ran the risk of deciding the game and every play call carried that same weight, Finch suddenly sprung up from his chair to ensure his voice was heard. He has been at it with this group since the middle of the 2020-21 season, when he left his job as a Toronto Raptors assistant coach to take over for the fired Ryan Saunders. Edwards was midway through his first season at that time, and the clear connection between the 22-year-old rising star and Finch has everything to do with the historic state of Timberwolves affairs currently unfolding.

“It starts with our head coach — Coach Finch,” Edwards said afterward. “He comes in every day, comes to work, gets there early. He’s thinking of ways to get Ant and KAT open looks. He’s thinking of ways to get Mike and Rudy open looks. He’s thinking of ways to get Jaden (McDaniels) involved. He’s trying to keep Naz (Reid) in it to get him involved. He’s just a great coach. And he don’t sugarcoat anything.

“If Kat f—–’ up, he’s going to get on KAT. If I’m f—–’ up, he’s going to get on me. If Rudy f—–’ up, he going to get on anybody that’s messing up throughout the game, and I think that’s what makes him the best coach in the NBA, to me. Because no matter who it is, no matter how high up on the pole, he’s going to get on you from start to finish. It starts with the head of the snake, and he’s the head of our snake. We all look up to him, listen to him, and he (does) a great job of making sure we’re ready to go every night.”

Finch, who spent the the 2016-17 season in Denver as an associate head coach alongside the Nuggets’ Michael Malone, knows as well as any what this Game 7 win means.

“It’s a big moment for our club,” Finch said. “Everybody talks about the last 30 years (in Minnesota), which mean nothing to me. But it does mean a lot to a lot of people to see this team, (who) root for this team. The city is behind this team. And to beat a team like Denver on their home floor the way we did, of course it was going to mean a lot.”

(Photo of Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokić: AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Related Topics:denver-nuggets Featured Minnesota Timberwolves NBA

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2026 World Cup Odds: How Far Can Mexico Go After Winning Group A?

Published

1 hour ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

2026 World Cup Odds: How Far Can Mexico Go After Winning Group A?

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After its massive 1-0 win over South Korea on Thursday night, Mexico has won Group A and officially clinched a spot in the knockout round.

El Tri will play its Round of 32 game in Mexico City, and will face the third-place finisher in either Group C/E/F/H/I.

This is the fourth time that Mexico has topped the group stage of a World Cup, with the other three coming in 1986, 1994 and 2002.

With the win, Mexico remains unbeaten in World Cup group games at home, going a combined 6-2-0 (W-D-L), with two wins and a draw in 1970 and 1986, and now two wins in 2026.

Before the tournament began, Mexico was listed at +6500 to win the World Cup. Now, after winning its first two games of the tournament, Mexico has surged up the oddsboard to +5000.

Can Mexico build off its first two matches and make a deep run in this tournament? Let’s check out the updated odds for El Tri as of June 19.

This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.

Team Mexico — Stage of Elimination

Last 32: +125 (bet $10 to win $22.50 total)
Last 16: +135 (bet $10 to win $23.50 total)
Quarterfinals: +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total)
Semifinals: +1600 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Runner-up: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Outright winner: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total)

Mexico is currently +5000 to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup after winning Group A (Getty Images).

Mexico’s Past World Cup Results:

1930: Group stage
1934: Did not qualify
1938: Withdrew
1950: Group stage
1954: Group stage
1958: Group stage
1962: Group stage
1966: Group stage
1970: Quarterfinals
1974: Did not qualify
1978: Group stage
1982: Did not qualify
1986: Quarterfinals
1990: Banned
1994: Round of 16
1998: Round of 16
2002: Round of 16
2006: Round of 16
2010: Round of 16
2014: Round of 16
2018: Round of 16
2022: Group stage
2026: TBD

What to know: Mexico has made a habit of being in the running, but never really being in the running. Make sense? Consider this: El Tri made it out of the group stage in seven consecutive World Cups (1994-2018), but never made it past the Round of 16 in any of those years. In 2022, Mexico failed to make it out of the group stage, and it will look to get back to its winning ways in 2026 after a great start to the tournament. With its win Thursday night, Mexico has now advanced to the knockout stage in eight of the last nine World Cups. It is important to note, however, that Mexico has never made it past the quarterfinals at a FIFA men’s World Cup.

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Goalkeeper Raúl Rangel’s elite play and South Korea’s mistake help Mexico advance

Published

2 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

Goalkeeper Raúl Rangel’s elite play and South Korea’s mistake help Mexico advance

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Three and a half years after its biggest failure on the World Cup stage in half a century, the Mexican national team needed only two games to advance to the knockout round of this year’s tournament as winner of Group A.

Mexico’s defense held off a spirited final push by South Korea, earning a 1-0 win on Thursday night at Guadalajara Stadium in front of a fiery announced sellout crowd of 45,522.

“It was a very tough game,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said.

Goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu made a mistake in the 50th minute, failing to stop what appeared to be a simple cross and bobbling the ball. That allowed Mexico’s Luis Romo to easily tap the ball into the net and claim a 1-0 lead.

“In the end, a mistake was going to tip the scales,” Aguirre said.

Mexico goalkeeper Raúl Rangel blocks a shot from South Korea’s Son Heung-min during their World Cup match at Guadalajara Stadium on Thursday.

(Natacha Pisarenko / Ap Photo/natacha Pisarenko)

“You always want to be there; I felt it, and I got the chance,” said Romo, who started the game after starting the opener on the bench — a strategic change by the Mexican coach that paid off.

South Korea put pressure on the Mexican team throughout the game. Late in the scoreless first half, Jae-sung Lee came close to giving South Korea the lead. Aguirre hoped his team would shake off nerves following the emotional opener at Azteca Stadium and show more bite in its second game against South Korea, but his team didn’t have much power behind its attack during the game’s first 45 minutes.

The crowd in Guadalajara grew frustrated and began booing the Mexican national team’s performance at the end of the first half.

Mexico, however, won back their cheers when it capitalized on South Korea’s costly mistake and converted it into a goal.

Obed Vargas replaced Romo in the 71st minute and was close to scoring a spectacular goal if not for Seung-gyu’s save.

El Tri earned a win without any other goals thanks, in part, to a great night by goalkeeper Raúl Rangel, who stopped a header by Cho Gue-sung in the 87th minute. Captain Edson Álvarez helped turn away South Korea’s attack late, holding up relatively well despite having left ankle surgery during the past year.

“It was just a reflex,” said Rangel, whose club team Chivas plays at at Guadalajara Stadium. “I was very focused and stepped up when the team needed me, and I’m happy about that.”

LAFC star and South Korea captain Son Heung-min fired one shot over Mexico’s goalkeeper in the first half, but Álvarez cleared it off the line before the referee ruled Son was offsides.

South Korea finished controlling possession 58% of the time, but it only earned two shots on target.

“It wasn’t a good game because they didn’t let us do much,” Aguirre said.

Mexico was coming off a comfortable 2-0 victory over South Africa, while the South Koreans had defeated the Czech Republic 2-1, marking their first World Cup opening-match win since 2010.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Mexico was eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 1978, breaking a streak of seven consecutive appearances in the knockout rounds. However, playing on home soil, the team’s goal is to emulate El Tri’s achievements in 1970 and 1986, when they reached the quarterfinals — the country’s best World Cup finish.

Due to the new 48-team format, Mexico would need to win two knockout-round matches and reach a sixth game to realize its goals.

“We’re taking it one step at a time; first, there’s the third game,” Romo said.

Mexico's Luis Romo celebrates with his teammates after scoring during a match against South Korea at Guadalajara Stadium

After the win over South Korea, Mexico will close out group play against Czechia at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on Wednesday. El Tri will get to play the first two games of the knockout round — should it win the first one — at Azteca Stadium, a venue where it has never lost a World Cup game.

South Korea has four points and will be favored when it plays South Africa Wednesday in Monterrey. If South Korea wins the match, it would be the Group A runner-up and advance to play the Group B runner-up on June 28 at SoFi Stadium.

“We want all nine points,” Vargas said of Mexico’s goal entering its next game against Czechia.

Sports

2026 FIFA World Cup Golden Boot Race Tracker: Lionel Messi Is Alone At The Top

Published

12 hours ago

June 18, 2026

Press Room

2026 FIFA World Cup Golden Boot Race Tracker: Lionel Messi Is Alone At The Top

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Who’ll win the Golden Boot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup? The race is on for who’ll score the most goals at the tournament, and it is set to be one of the tournament’s most closely watched storylines.

Several of the world’s top forwards will be aiming to finish as the competition’s leading goalscorer. Kylian Mbappé enters the tournament after winning the Golden Boot at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, while Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, and Mikel Oyarzabal are among the other players expected to challenge for the award.

And check out our list of all the 2026 World Cup goals, ranked!

Favorites To Win The Golden Boot

Harry Kane: +310 (bet $10 to win $41 total)
Lionel Messi: +350 (bet $10 to win $45 total)
Kylian Mbappé: +350 (bet $10 to win $45 total)
Erling Haaland: +1000 (bet $10 to win $110 total)
Kai Havertz: +1300 (bet $10 to win $140 total)
Vinícius Júnior: +3300 (bet $10 to win $340 total)
Folarin Balogun: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
Mikel Oyarzabal: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
Lamine Yamal: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
Raphinha: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
Michael Olise: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
Romelu Lukaku: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
Viktor Gyökeres: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
Cody Gakpo: +5500 (bet $10 to win $560 total)
Cristiano Ronaldo: +5500 (bet $10 to win $560 total)

3 Goals

Lionel Messi (Argentina)

2 Goals

Johan Manzambi (Switzerland)
Harry Kane (England)
Erling Haaland (Norway)
Kylian Mbappé (France)
Harry Kane (England)
Elijah Just (New Zealand)
Yasin Ayari (Sweden)
Kai Havertz (Germany)
Folarin Balogun (USA)

1 Goal

Granit Xhaka (Switzerland)
Rubén Vargas (Switzerland)
Ermin Mahmic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Michal Sadilek (Czechia)
Teboho Mokoena (South Africa)
Jáminton Campaz (Colombia)
Luis Díaz (Colombia)
Daniel Muñoz (Colombia)
Abbosbek Fayzullaev (Uzbekistan)
Caleb Yirenkyi (Ghana)
Jude Bellingham (England)
Marcus Rashford (England)
Martin Baturina (Croatia)
Petar Musa (Croatia)
Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)
João Neves (Portugal)
Marko Arnautović (Austria)
Jude Bellingham (England)
Marcus Rashford (England)
Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)
João Neves (Portugal)
Caleb Yirenkyi (Ghana)
Ali Olwan (Jordan)
Romano Schmid (Austria)
Leo Østigard (Norway)
Ayman Hussein (Iraq)
Ibrahim Mbaye (Senegal)
Bradley Barcola (France)
Ramin Rezaeian (Iran)
Mohammad Mohebbi (Iran)
Maxi Araújo (Uruguay)
Abdulelah Al-Amri (Saudi Arabia)
Emam Ashour (Egypt)
Alexander Isak (Sweden)
Viktor Gyökeres (Sweden)
Mattias Svanberg (Sweden)
Omar Rekik (Tunisia)
Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast)
Keito Nakamura (Japan)
Daichi Kamada (Japan)
Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands)
Crysencio Summerville (Netherlands)
Felix Nmecha (Germany)
Nico Schlotterbeck (Germany)
Jamal Musiala (Germany)
Nathaniel Brown (Germany)
Deniz Undav (Germany)
Connor Metcalfe (Australia)
Nestory Irankunda (Australia)
John McGinn (Scotland)
Ismael Saibari (Morocco)
Vinícius Júnior (Brazil)
Breel Embolo (Switzerland)
Gio Reyna (USA)
Mauricio (Paraguay)
Cyle Larin (Canada)
Jovo Lukić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Ladislav Krejcí (Czechia)
Julián Quiñones (Mexico)
Raúl Jimenez (Mexico)
Hwang In-Beom (South Korea)
Oh Hyeon-Gyu (South Korea)