The Minnesota Timberwolves have reached the halfway point of the 2023-24 NBA season on quite a roll. The T-Wolves have the best record in the Western Conference at 30-11 and their .732 winning percentage trails only the Boston Celtics (32-9, .780) entering Friday’s play.
Fans in the state can only wish that they had legal, regulated Minnesota sports betting sites to wager on, because they’d be doing well to back their basketball team on the moneyline this season.
Minnesota’s hot start got us wondering: Is this the best team in Timberwolves franchise history? The short answer: So far, maybe. MinnesotaBets.com researched the best starts in team history since the franchise entered the NBA in the 1989-90 season. These Timberwolves teams are listed in order by best record 41 games into the season, the halfway point of the 82-game schedule:
Best Timberwolves Teams At Halfway Point
2003-04 Timberwolves Stand Alone In Franchise History
As far as best record halfway into a season, the 2023-24 edition of the Timberwolves have tied the 2001-02 team for accomplishment after 41 games. As for season-long goals, especially for the playoffs, the 2003-04 team is the current target. Back then, few could have even dreamed that Minnesota sportsbook apps would be a proposal on the table, as it is now.
The Timberwolves team from 20 seasons ago made a playoff appearance for the eighth consecutive year. Unlike the previous seven seasons, that 2003-04 team actually won a playoff series; in fact, it won two. Minnesota, led by Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell, was 29-12 after 41 games, then copied that record exactly in the second half of the season for a final mark of 58-24. Then the T-Wolves eliminated the Denver Nuggets in the first round for their first playoff series win ever, followed by a seven-game victory over the Sacramento Kings. The Western Conference final was the end of the road for Minnesota as the Los Angeles Lakers – founded in none other than Minneapolis, of course – took out the T-Wolves in six games. In 20 seasons since, Minnesota has not won another playoff series.
Minnesota Timberwolves NBA Title Odds
The Minnesota Timberwolves start to the 2023-24 season was excellent, with eight wins in their first 10 games. Since then, a team led by Anthony Edwards (26.1 points per game), Karl-Anthony Towns (21.6 ppg) and Rudy Gobert (second in the league at 12.4 rebounds per game) has kept up the pace. That 2001-02 team that also started 30-11 (which stood alone as the best first half in franchise history until Thursday) went cold in the second half of the season, finished 50-32 and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
As of Friday afternoon, the Timberwolves had +2000 odds to win the NBA title at BetMGM Sportsbook, behind seven other teams. Under coach Chris Finch, Minnesota earned its 30th win this season on Thursday night, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 118-103 to extend its winning streak to four games. Edwards scored 28 and Naz Reid added 20 points off the bench for the Timberwolves.
The T-Wolves start the second half of their season Saturday night against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder in a clash between two of the league’s most exciting young teams. Oklahoma City went into Friday as the second-best team in the West at 28-13, two games behind Minnesota.
Stick with MinnesotaBets.com for more sports coverage, and for stories about the effort to bring Minnesota sports betting promo codes to fruition in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
