MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Timberwolves brought joy back to fans in Game 6 on Thursday night.

They returned to blocking shots, agitating Jamal Murray and winning by a "Space Jam" amount of points.

Many Minnesota sports fans are now left wondering: can they do it again?

The stats are sending mixed signals.

Game 7 home-court advantage

Over the last 20 years, there have been 60 playoff series that made it to the win-or-go-home Game 7 (excluding the 2020 pandemic season, when all NBA playoff games were played in a bio-secure bubble at Walt Disney World).

Of those games, 70% were won by the home team.

Sunday's Game 7 will be played at Denver's Ball Arena.

But what about momentum?

Here, the numbers are slightly more optimistic for the Wolves, the team that won Game 6. Since 2004, the winner of Game 6 pulls out a victory in the final game of the series about 47% of the time.

So, a coin flip. A toss-up. A Rudy Gobert free-throw.

(Kidding. Gobert is shooting 63% from the charity stripe this season.)

Did Michael Jordan and LeBron James win their first Game 7s?

We're not making the comparison. Good Morning America is.

But if Anthony Edwards truly is on his way to a legendary career, how do other mega-stars do in their inaugural Game 7?

Here it's mixed.

Jordan lost his first Game 7 in 1990 against the Detroit Pistons at the Palace in Auburn Hills (which has since been paved over for an EV parts factory). Bruised and battered by Bill Laimbeer, Jordan managed to still put up 31 points in a 19-point loss.

King James, however, fared better. At 22, he led his Cleveland Cavaliers to a Game 7 win in 2004, also against a Pistons team at the Palace.

A stat to hang hope on: the 2-0 lead

The stat for Wolves fans to cling to relates to how they started the series (on the road, mind you). The team that has won the first two games of a series, as the Timberwolves did earlier this month, goes on to wins the series 92.7% of the time.

So keep up the hope. This is why the game is played.

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