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About 35 minutes before the Minnesota Timberwolves were set to tip off against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, an eruption could be heard in the back hallways of Target Center. It came from the locker room, and the timing seemed odd for a team that was in the doldrums after two straight dispiriting losses to teams that had no business winning in this building. It came from an announcement from head coach Chris Finch, just before the regular game plan meeting started. As the team gathered around, Finch told them they had the chance to do something special on this night. He wasn’t talking about getting revenge on the Pelicans, who embarrassed them two nights prior. He wasn’t talking about closing the gap on the Golden State Warriors for the coveted No. 6 seed in the Western Conference playoff chase. He was talking about doing something for one of their own and a family that has been through hell.
Finch told his team that he was giving veteran forward Joe Ingles his first start of the season, even though this was a “must-win game.” As the players looked around at each other, he told them why a guy who had appeared in only 18 of the team’s previous 71 games, five of which lasted 3 seconds or less, was suddenly starting for a team that was flailing. He told them that Ingles’ wife and three children were in town visiting this week and that one of life’s little miracles had occurred for them at a game against the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
He told them how Ingles’ 8-year-old son, Jacob, has autism, and how he had never been able to sit through the sensory overload of an NBA game from start to finish. He told them that on Sunday, for the first time ever, Jacob was able to watch the entire game, an incredible breakthrough for him and the family that has fought so hard for him since he was diagnosed at 2 1/2 years old.
There was only one bummer: Ingles did not play in that game. Friday marked the last day the family would be together before mom and the kids headed back to their full-time home in Orlando, where Jacob has a school that he loves and a house that provides him much-needed comfort.
What followed was a 134-93 victory over the Pels. Randle had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists, Rudy Gobert had 15 points, 11 rebounds and three steals and Anthony Edwards scored 17 points. The most important person on the court that night went scoreless in six minutes, missing all three of his shots, committing two fouls and turning it over once. The most important person in the building, a young boy who was non-verbal early on in his diagnosis but is now in school and growing and developing and blossoming, was able to watch an entire NBA game for the second time in a row. The only difference this time was Jacob got to see his dad play.
This was a major moment for the Ingles family, a line of demarcation in a seemingly endless battle to help Jacob find his way in a world that can leave behind kids like him. It was also a jolt to a team that seemed to be hitting a wall, to a group of players that were maybe feeling a little sorry for themselves when even an eight-game winning streak earlier this month couldn’t put a dent in the narrow lead the Warriors had on them in the playoff race.
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