The Minnesota Timberwolves made history against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night when they rallied from 20 points down to win a decisive Game 7 on the road and advance to the NBA Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
And now it turns out that a historic audience was watching the Timberwolves advance.
According to the NBA, Sunday’s Game 7 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets averaged 8.41M viewers on TNT/truTV/Max, making it the most watched first or second round playoff game ever on TNT Sports. Sunday also marked the most active day ever across the NBA App and NBA.com.
While some of the growth can likely be attributed to the game being found on Max, which enabled NBA fans that don't have a cable subscription to watch the game, it's also a testament to the exciting series played between the two teams. Between the Nuggets being the defending champions and the Timberwolves being an exciting upstart featuring an exciting superstar in Anthony Edwards, this series gave viewers everything they could possibly want.
While the common narrative is that fans tune in for the big-market teams — the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors — these numbers show that if the product is entertaining, people will tune in.
Timberwolves top Nuggets, advance to Western Conference Finals
Somehow, Minnesota had enough energy in reserve to mount a successful comeback against the Denver Nuggets, who took a 3-2 series lead after five games in the matchup. On Sunday, Minnesota ended the Nuggets' reign as NBA champs with a wild 98-90 victory in the series finale in Mile High City. Edwards did not exactly have a dominant performance, but that didn't prevent him from trolling Nuggets fans when it started to really dawn on everybody that the Timberwolves were going to win the series.
During the final minute of Game 7, Edwards waved goodbye to Denver fans after Reggie Jackson missed a desperation 3-point attempt. At that point, the only thing everyone was waiting for was the final score, while Minnesota was putting the final touches on its Game 7 comeback in enemy territory.
The Timberwolves are rightfully celebrating their successful takedown of Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, but the mission is far from done. Currently standing in the way of Minnesota and its franchise's first NBA Finals appearance are Luka Doncic and the surging Dallas Mavericks, who pulled off a series upset in the second round by ousting the Oklahoma City Thunder from the playoffs after six games.
Edwards and Doncic are considered two of the brightest young stars in the league and one of them is going to the NBA Finals. That narrative will add flavor to what should be an exciting series that kicks off this coming Wednesday in Minnesota.
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