In classic “Too Little, Too Late” fashion, the NBA Board of Governors handed out a slice of vindication to Timberwolves fans who are still a bit sore over Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. If you remember that game (and trust me, every Wolves fan does), it wasn’t just about Luka Doncic hitting a dagger step-back three to steal the win. No, this was a game marred by one of those officiating gaffes that still stings months later.

Let me set the stage: 47 seconds left, Wolves up by two, and Jaden McDaniels has the ball near the Wolves’ basket. Kyrie Irving comes over, smacks McDaniels’ arm, and the ball goes out of bounds. Simple foul, right? Not so fast. The refs ruled it was off Kyrie, and that’s where things got interesting.

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd decided to challenge the call. Now, on replay, it’s clear as day that yes, the ball last touched McDaniels. But here’s the kicker: the replay also showed that Kyrie absolutely hacked McDaniels’ forearm. We’re talking about a foul so obvious you could see it from the nosebleeds. However, per the rules, a foul like that wasn’t reviewable. All that mattered was who touched the ball last. So, instead of McDaniels heading to the free-throw line to potentially ice the game, it’s Mavericks ball. And you know how that ended—Luka doing Luka things, hitting a ridiculous three over Rudy Gobert to flip the script and steal the game.

Fast forward to now, and the NBA finally decides to tweak the rule, using the McDaniels play as the prime example of why the change is needed. Moving forward, if a coach challenges a call and there’s a foul on the play that wasn’t originally called, the refs can now assess that foul after the fact.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a solid rule change. If you’re going to stop the game and dissect a play frame-by-frame, why ignore a blatant foul? It’s like doing a full autopsy but ignoring the gaping bullet hole. The rule makes sense. But the injustice of it all? Infuriating.

The Wolves were up 2, with the ball, under a minute left. Had that foul been called, McDaniels likely goes to the line, extends the lead, and suddenly, the Wolves 1-1 in the series instead of heading back to Dallas down 0-2. It was a series-defining swing. And yet, because the refs decided not to call the foul in real-time (despite literally staring at the play), the Wolves found themselves in a deep hole that they were incapable of digging out of.

And it wasn’t just this play. All season long, it felt like the Wolves weren’t getting the calls, and this moment was the cherry on top. When you’re a team trying to climb the mountain and make your first NBA Finals, you need some thing to break your way. What you don’t need is officiating blunders tipping the scales.

I get it—there’s no point in crying over spilled milk. The Wolves had other chances to win that series, and they didn’t get it done. But the fact remains: that non-call was a backbreaker. And while it’s nice that the NBA is finally addressing the issue, it feels like a hollow victory. A rule change now doesn’t fix what happened in Game 2.

Look, I’m not saying the Wolves were robbed of a Finals appearance by one bad call (OK, maybe I’m saying that a little), but this is just one more example of how the deck always seems to be stacked against Minnesota. It often feels like the team is playing 8-on-5 out there, and unless Anthony Edwards starts getting those superstar calls, that’s just the reality we’re going to have to live with. Until Adam Silver and the league clean up the officiating mess as a whole, the Wolves will need to be that much better to rise above it.

But you know what? The Wolves are capable of doing it. Despite falling short in 2024, there are so many positive things from last season to build on. Anthony Edwards is on a rocket ship to superstardom, the Gobert-Towns pairing seems to be figuring it out, and this young team is only getting better. Maybe, just maybe, the painful loss to the Mavericks will be the stepping stone that pushes this young squad to even greater heights.

So, yeah, thanks for the rule change, NBA. But we’ll take our retribution on the court, where it matters most. Here’s to 2025 and the Wolves making a serious run—bad calls and all.