Fittingly, as the final seconds ticked off the clock, Randle pumped up the home crowd once again with the Timberwolves having secured a spot in the Western Conference Finals. It felt like the fans were cheering for him individually as much as they were cheering for the team as a whole.

Julius Randle scored 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 121-110 win over the Golden State Warriors to clinch their Western Conference semifinals series on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

And with that, the Warriors' season has ended. Simply put, Golden State could not recover after losing superstar Stephen Curry to a left hamstring strain in Game 1 of this series. Golden State finished Game 1 without Curry with a 99-88 win but proceeded to lose four straight by a combined 47 points.

Julius Randle has only been a part of the Timberwolves for a year, but he has looked the part of being the team's veteran star alongside a young Ant Edwards.

Fast forward a few months, and Minnesota is headed back to the conference finals in no small part because of Randle, who continued the best stretch of basketball of his postseason -- and probably professional -- life with 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting on Wednesday as the Wolves eliminated the Warriors in five games.

Timberwolves' power forward has finally emerged as a playoff force to complement superstar Anthony Edwards. 'I had a great mentor in Kobe Bryant,' he says.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Julius Randle reportedly plan to discuss a new contract but only after their championship pursuit in the ongoing NBA playoffs ends.

Aaron Gordon might be the gold standard of the "struggling leading man to role player" transformation right now. After never finding his place in Orlando, he has become Mr. Nugget in Denver by giving up the on-ball portion of his offensive game,