All season long, the Western Conference has been perceived as a three-horse race between the OKC Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Denver Nuggets.
Recent performances by a fourth contender, however, may have many second-guessing this once foregone conclusion.
The Minnesota Timberwolves appear to be finding their form at a time when almost everybody had written them off, and they're looking like a legitimate title threat.
Although we are in the early stages of the postseason, which features numerous lopsided matchups, there are still notable series being played.
Arguably, the most intense one features the Nuggets and Wolves.
The two teams share a rich postseason history and find themselves squaring off against one another for the third time in four postseasons.
After dropping Game 1, the Wolves came back to stun the Nuggets in Denver for Game 2. Both outings were hard-fought, and Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets look like they will have their hands full moving forward.
Thunder must now take Wolves seriously despite regular season skid
The two games are in stark contrast to Minnesota's closing to the season, where they sputtered into the playoffs with a 4-5 record in their last nine games.
As a result, nearly all NBA pundits around the league picked some combination of the OKC Thunder, Denver Nuggets, or San Antonio Spurs to reach the Western Conference Semifinals.
Just before the playoffs began, all four members of the ESPN Tip-Off crew picked either the Nuggets or Spurs to beat the Thunder in the West and reach the NBA Finals.
These two competitive games in Denver, however, have reminded people of one key fact: the Timberwolves are still very much the team that reached the last two Western Conference Finals.
Not any of the other three previously mentioned teams.
Anthony Edwards has already proven he can take his team deep into the playoffs while upsetting other juggernauts. He has averaged at least 25.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.2 assists each of his last three postseasons.
His supporting cast of Julius Randle and other seasoned vets also has a plethora of playoff experience.
Add in midseason acquisition Ayo Dosumnu, who is playing an integral role on both sides of the ball off the bench, and the Wolves have all the ingredients to be a problem for every team they face this Spring.
They have already proven they can hang with the Thunder as well.
The teams split the regular season series, with each being decided by 13 points or less. Minnesota seemed to bring an extra fire to each contest.
From Chris Finch getting ejected over officiating complaints to Edwards shoving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into the padding underneath the basket on a breakaway layup, these matches were no walks in the park for Oklahoma City.
Game 3 between the Nuggets and Wolves will be an important one, as the winner will have a massive leg up throughout the rest of the series. The winner will likely play another juggernaut in the Spurs.
The Thunder luckily avoided running through this gauntlet by securing the number one seed, but they will eventually be forced to face one of these two -- now three -- major threats, all of whom are capable of upsetting them if Shai and company don't bring their best to the court.
Add us as a preferred source on Google