Flip Saunders Believes Sam Cassell's Infamous Dance Cost T-Wolves Title in 2004
The Minnesota Timberwolves had the best record in the Western Conference during the 2003-04 season, and many thought that they would be hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy at the end of the season. However, that didn't happen.
Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders—who also happened to be the team's coach in '03-04—thinks he knows why his team didn't win it all that year.
With Kevin Garnett, Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell leading the way, Minnesota earned the top seed in the Western Conference with a record of 58-24. The Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round and followed that up by beating the Sacramento Kings in seven games in the second round. Then the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated Minnesota by beating them in six games in the Western Conference Finals.
So what happened against the Lakers? Well, it actually goes back to what happened the round before.
In Game 7 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals against the Kings, Cassell performed his now-infmaous dance that was inspired by Major League II.
As it turned out, Cassell was injured during the dance. Here's what Saunders had to say about the dance and the impact that it had on his team's season, per Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune:
"Saunders takes a rather dim view of the gesture as well, but he has his reasons. According to Saunders, Cassell injured his hip doing that gesture that night, and was injured and ineffective in the conference finals, which the Wolves lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
'We lost a championship by that,' Saunders said. 'When [Cassell] did that he had an avulsion fracture in his hip. ... So, from that perspective, I’ve always been against that type of thing.'
"
The dance was done for fun, but it ended up having serious ramifications.
Cassell played only 16 minutes per game against the Lakers, averaging just 9.3 points, 2.5 assists and 0.5 rebounds. Having a hobbled point guard forced other Timberwolves players into unfamiliar roles and ultimately led to the team being eliminated.
That was a very talented Timberwolves squad. If Cassell had never performed that dance, they may in fact have won the championship that year. Cassell's injury is something that Minnesota fans will always look back on and wonder about what could have been.
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