For the Minnesota Timberwolves, winning finally feels real - ESPN

IT WILL NEVER AGAIN be this dark, this early. At least that's what the rotation of the earth promises. It's the darkest day of the year, though it's all a matter of inches, seconds and minutes. Statistically, though, the proclamation is sound. The sun is already threatening its departure at 4:15 p.m. in downtown Minneapolis, hovering above the brown roof of the Target Center, pulling thick grey clouds over itself like a blanket. It would all seem especially doomed if not for the fact that Christmas is also four days away. Anyone who will talk to you here, in the spirit of polite Midwest conversation, will tell you that it's cold, sure. But not really cold. Not yet. The worst is yet to come. For now, the outdoors is buzzing with a kind of general excitement (even though, to be clear, it is still 32 degrees).

Outside of the famed First Avenue venue, there is a lone dancing Santa. A man in a costume, who, initially, begins moving slowly, and then picks up in exuberance, almost like his own whirlwind. Even for those, like myself, averse to staring, it is irresistible to be an audience to this brief burst of pleasure, this person, immersed in whatever is playing in the massive over-ear headphones affixed to his ears, missing the walk signal once, and then a second time, before finally settling himself, and walking across the street as if nothing had been happening mere moments ago. The space he left is now empty, and so attention is drawn to what had been hovering over him the entire time: a massive black and white billboard featuring Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert. Black and white repetitive strips of their faces — Towns, glaring, looking sideways at the camera. Edwards smirking, Gobert, smiling warmly.