[Izulde]

The postseason that year felt particularly emotional to me, if only because I knew at the end of it I may have to cut ties with two of the men that I'd come to regard as quintissential Timberwolves. Detlef and Volkov both played hard and had become quite popular with the blue-collar segment of our fans.

But all things must come to an end eventually. If this was to be their final sendoff, then I hoped we could bless them with another ring before they left.

1996 Eastern Conference First Round
(1) New York vs (8) Chicago
(4) Toronto vs (5) Indiana
(3) Detroit vs (6) Washington
(2) Atlanta vs (7) Cleveland

The East hosted four very intriguing matchups in its first round. Upsets were quite possible in each pairing except for one, in my opinion.

Trading for Harold Miner in 1995 had turned out a smarter move on New York's part than the Knicks could have ever realized themselves. Since winning the starting SG spot out of training camp that year, he'd dazzled, averaging 17.9 points a game and giving his team an electrifying young player who made for another offensive weapon to take the pressure off of Ewing.

In contrast, although the Bulls squeaked into the playoffs even without Jordan, they were playing on the fumes of emotion and emotion just wasn't going to be enough to beat the Knicks. New York was bound to win.

Despite Toronto's status as a four seed, they had the talent of a top seed and were certain to take out the Pacers. Sam Cassell-Fat Lever-Ricky Pierce-Chris Webber-Matt Geiger was one of the best starting fives in the entire NBA, the right mix of youth and veterans who all shared the scoring load and played the Timberwolf Way. They had a fearsome bench as well. The only thing that could potentially knock them offstride was Chris Gatling's anger at having been demoted to the middle of the bench. Truthfully, if his contract wasn't so terrible, I'd have considered trading for him myself, for I'd long coveted the former Old Dominion Monarch.

The Detroit Pistons relied on Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas, and Terry Mills for their offense. Mills had taken his postseason heroics of the previous year and parlayed them into a career high 18.8 point regular season average. He was in the final year of his deal and I salivated at the thought of capturing him on the open market as a potential replacement for Detlef. The Pistons' bench was mediocre at best, however.

Washington more than had the firepower to match Detroit's triangle in Jeff Malone and Grant Hill. The Wizards also featured a tougher, more talented bench than Detroit and were my pick for the upset. I'll admit to a little bias since Bill Wennington played for the Double Ws.

Atlanta, as I've mentioned repeatedly before, copied the Timberwolf Way blueprint and applied it wholesale. The Hawks had a terrific starting five, highlighted by Anfernee Hardaway and the ageless Dominique Wilkins and boasted a deep reserves. By contrast, the Cavs really only went seven deep and needed to win a short series to have any hope. I didn't see that for Cleveland and predicted a win for our old friendly rivals.

1996 Western Conference First Round
(1) Minnesota vs (8) L.A. Clippers
(4) Utah vs (5) Portland
(3) Sacramento vs (6) Seattle
(2) Houston vs (7) New Orleans

The West possessed much less exciting matchups. Nearly everyone predicted squashes by us, the Sonics and the Rockets in the opening round. The lone spot of contention was the Jazz and the Trailblazers, where I favored Portland, who had the much more balanced and deeper team over Utah.

You shouldn't regard the near universal acceptance of the Sonics beating the Kings as an upset. Sacramento played in the weakest division in the league, the Sonics the strongest. Besides which, Seattle was a playoff-tested team, frequent winners of their first round battles and hungry to advance beyond the second round while they still had the players to do so.

As for us, I agreed with the press and the fans that we should beat the Clippers easily. We were just too talented for the Red and White to compete.

When the Clippers arrived in Minneapolis for Game 1, I was pleased to see that Robert Horry had cracked the starting lineup at PF. The media made much of the fact that Horry had once been Detlef's heir apparent and they ran a continuous storyline about the Master versus the former Apprentice in the days leading up to the contest.

Detlef won Game 1 with 14 points and 11 rebounds versus Horry's 9 points and 3 rebounds as we went box-to-wire in a 103-95 victory that was nowhere near as close as the score indicates. Shaq rampaged as he was wont to do, this time for 35 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks. A minor note of concern was Volkov's 1-7 performance. His main value to us in recent years had been in the postseason and this chilliness boded ill for his future in Minneapolis.

Seeking to gain a psychological advantage, the Clippers started Terrell Brandon, Pooh's once upon a time heir at shooting guard in Game 2. It worked to the extent that we struggled early and often, but our trademark defense proved the difference as we shut them down 81-65 in a game of gritty defenses. Shaq saved us as you might expect with his 25 points and 18 rebounds.

We opened Game 3 with a 15-4 run and Shaq scored 27 points by halftime. That right there tells the tale of the tape in the demolition that we laid on the Clippers on their own court. To be more specific, our star center concluded the game with 34 points and 15 rebounds and 4 blocks besides, Mullin his accomplice with 26 points. The 111-80 victory was so great that supersub Greg Anthony's 15 points would've been the second highest team tally had he played for the Red and White.

The Clippers, desparate to avoid the sweep, came out firing in Game 4 and it looked like we might lose, until Shaq slammed a dunk home just before halftime to put us up by a single point. That single bucket and subsequent loss of lead at the buzzer sucked all the morale and energy out of the best team in L.A. and they went down with barely a sound, 116-81. Mullin ripped through their porous defense for 33 points and all five starters hit double digits in scoring. Glenn Robinson topped the reserves with 10 points himself.

In short, it was a swift, neat, expected sweep. But it was not without its cost.

Chris Mullin, Game's 4 general, wounded his toe and was out a week and a half.

We would be missing a major component for part of our next series, against a much more capable opponent.