So it turns out they're not done.

Even though there was considerable evidence to the contrary for a while.

Even though they know a lot of people are predicting the usual first-round exit -- because aren't fans in other cities and the media just so considerate, wanting to get the door so it doesn't hit them on the way out?

Even though a lot of said people are being more cold-fact practical than considerate.

	Kevin Garnett and the Timberwolves might not be a playoff pushover after all.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are either back to being one of the feel-good stories of the season or just setting themselves up for a bigger disappointment than ever, which is saying something given the fact that each of the previous five seasons have ended with elimination in the first round and only one of them included so much as two victories in a best-of-five matchup. They are back to looking more early-season than early-March, which is encouraging, but they are also looking at the Spurs or Lakers for starters in the playoffs. Which is not.

The battle for No. 5 in the West with the Trail Blazers, though, is nothing compared to the battle the Timberwolves have with history. They have been good so many times before, just not good enough. Look at them again. They're back to winning after the seven-game losing streak from March 5 to March 17 that lightened the load on the bandwagon, but of the six wins in eight games that came starting March 28, two were We're For Real statements, against the Mavericks and Nets, but the others came against the Knicks, Grizzlies, Suns and Warriors. The losses? Getting drilled by Sacramento -- a loss would not have been shameful considering the way the Kings are going, but leaving Arco Arena horizontal was not a good sign in a playoff-barometer game -- and Denver. Just in time to get the Lakers.

"No one's going to favor us to beat anybody in the first round," Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said. "Outside people won't. But that'll be more of a motivating factor for us. I guess the scary thing for a team playing us is that they don't know which team they'll get."

Not to mention the fright factor for the Timberwolves themselves. You can be one of the guys who set up the Haunted House and still forget where some of the trap doors are. Minnesota had its great start, from 9-2 to 16-5 and all the way to 30-10, and had even more reason to feel good about the moment because of all the bad ones that had come before.

It was a long road of healing after the death of teammate Malik Sealy. Then Joe Smith became a free agent against his wishes, Kevin McHale was banished and draft picks were confiscated because of Smith's illegal signing. That was another blow because Smith was an important body inside and inside the locker room. The T-Wolves as an organization did not deserve sympathy for that one -- or congratulations for how they ultimately came back from that -- since it was all self-inflicted, but Kevin Garnett set the tone that the players would ride it out. Also, Saunders kept things together internally, so there is some reason that an organization that broke the rules in the first place can also feel good now.

And then Minnesota had its bad middle. Terrell Brandon went out for the season on Feb. 13 because of a leg injury. Chauncey Billups initially put up good numbers in his place, but then the rush of moving him into the starting lineup gave way and and, within a couple of weeks, so did the Timberwolves. Seven consecutive losses. The Suns, the Clippers, the Rockets -- all defeats. March sadness. At 40-26, they were in a freefall.

"When we lost some of those games," Saunders said, "we realized that we had hoped to win the division and that that probably wasn't going to happen because of what the other teams (Dallas and San Antonio) were doing. But I think it was also a wake-up call."

Not that pulling out of the dive came easy. They beat the Raptors, proving that someone can, and then the Grizzlies, but they followed that with losses at home to the Trail Blazers and the Warriors, when Golden State scored 115 points in the process. The victory over Dallas was big, and New Jersey went down two games later. The Timberwolves were back. Maybe not all the way, but at least on track for something besides a 2 vs. 7 matchup.

	“	People are probably not going to think we have a chance to win. But that's the way it's been all year. Even when we were 30-10, people were like, 'I don't know why that's happened. That's just the Timberwolves.' ”
		— Chauncey Billups

"It doesn't matter who we play," Billups said. "People are probably not going to think we have a chance to win. But that's the way it's been all year. Even when we were 30-10, people were like, 'I don't know why that's happened. That's just the Timberwolves.' "

But that's also the reason they're not done. They're the Timberwolves. They're resiliant, as has been proven through the past emotional trials and the more-traditional ones of this season on the court, and they have a great force on offense and defense in Garnett. And, as important as anything at this stage of the season, they're so set up for postseason play.