In an era of NBA basketball when everyone seems to like each other, when the rivalries that helped build the game have gradually disappeared, the level of enmity that will hang in the air at Target Center on Tuesday night when the Golden State Warriors open their second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves will harken back to the days when Kevin McHale was clotheslining Kurt Rambis.
There is bad blood between Warriors star Jimmy Butler and the entire state of Minnesota, stemming from Butler’s messy exit from the Timberwolves in 2018. Wolves fans took personally the way Butler burned the house down on his way out the door, and they have been waiting for four years to have a chance to let Butler know that they haven’t forgiven him.
The last time Butler was on the court and in uniform at Target Center, he was wearing a Miami Heat uniform, the crowd was taking out all of its frustration on him and Anthony Edwards was dunking Butler’s teammate into oblivion. It was Nov. 24, 2021, and Butler has not played in Minnesota since. The fans have chosen to take those absences as an extension of a cold war.
“Don’t ask me about Minnesota,” Butler said as he left Houston’s Toyota Center on Sunday night following Golden State’s Game 7 win over the Rockets.
Being ignored has only turned up the heat for Wolves fans as the playoffs are about to resume.
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