Voices of the Timberwolves season: Michael Grady and Jim Petersen

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Eighty-two games, thousands of points, hundreds of rebounds, and dozens of poster-worthy highlights—that's the Timberwolves' season in a nutshell. And there are two people at the heart of it all. 

Michael Grady and Jim Petersen are the soundtrack of the Minnesota Timberwolves, bringing fans play-by-play and analysis for the last two seasons. The fans love them, so we thought it would be fun to turn the tables and put them in the highlight reel. 

Read FOX 9's Amy Hocket's interview with Michael and Jim below:

Amy: "Why do the two of you work so well together?"

Michael: "We both bring something important to the broadcast, and we both respect what each other brings to the broadcast. And so I don't think there's an analyst as prepared as Jim. And his passion, I vibe with that passion as well, the hard work, all those types of things. And so, when the Timberwolves win, I mean, we're both excited. We're both, you know, yeah. When the Timberwolves lose, we need a minute."

Jim: "I just know that I need to give Michael space to be able to do his magic, because that's the magic of sports, is that that's what people are going to remember. And so, I just think it's important to breathe and let Michael's talent really shine in this situation."

Amy: "A fan wants to know, are you surprised by the team's success this season?" 

Jim: "I came into the season knowing that this was the most talented team that some of us have ever had, and I'm of the opinion that Chris Finch is the best coach they've ever had."

Michael: "Training camp. I knew day one they wanted the way they were competing. I've seen a lot of training camps. That was as competitive, spirited a training camp as I've ever seen."

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Amy: "Do you have any pre-broadcast rituals?"

Michael: "I have to run, then prep. I finished prep and then a nap. And if I don't get that nap, then I'm going to be cranky on the broadcast. Haha."

Jim: "I'm an early riser, so I'm up at 6:00 a.m., 6:30 a.m. and start my prepping, you know, and I really like, you know, we prep all day. Lot of people don't realize that we, I mean, I start sometimes the night before because it really never ends. You're never done, and you never fully feel like you're fully prepped, either, do you?"

Amy: "Do you have a favorite food?"

Michael: "I'm a foodie, but I'm going to go, I'm going to go super basic. I have to have scrambled eggs every day." 

Jim: "I like to make my own food too, though, because I like to cook, so I don't know. Michael's not much of a chef in the kitchen, but I've learned."

Michael: "I make a mean breakfast."

Jim: "I got to tell you, Amy, that the best thing for me to get on the cooking routine has been Instagram, Instagram, Instagram, recipes. How easy they've made cooking seem. It's like, you know, just really the hardest part about cooking is going to buy the ingredients because, you know, that's the hard part. I'm going to the grocery store. Getting the stuff you need to make is like, Instagram's changed my life from that standpoint."

Michael: "And you would think that I'm on Instagram the most between the two of us. No, no, I've seen Jim on a plane. (I consume it more, I consume it more) I've seen them before many a time on the plane asleep, and Instagram is still just scrolling away. There's some golf instructional video or a cooking video. So yeah Jim is all about the Gram."

Amy: "Favorite player moment on the court?"

Jim: "I mean it's I mean Ant’s dunk in Utah's is mine. But it's my favorite because it was not only just a great play, but it's the way that Grady called that thing because, you know, basically they're breezing up into the front court, you know, and it's basically just ahead man pass and NAW [Nickeil Alexander-Walker] throws it to Ant, and he's got this normal voice but then the crescendo when he throws it down the way that he just was like, man, it just was like, that was classic. It was so good. You went from 0 to 100 man, like you did it so naturally."

Michael: "That's a 1a for sure. I think 1b for both of us would be a handful of nights before that in Indiana."

Jim: "Oh, Indiana. Yeah. The block shot."

Michael: "To get up to where you hit your head on the rim in a situation where if you give up the layup, you lose the game. It was unreal. It was unreal."

Amy: "Where does your love of sports come from?" 

Jim: "I had this high school bb coach. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would’ve made it to the NBA, so Auggie Schmit and his wife Barbara and his son Ted they’re like another family for me. Auggie really made me believe in myself when I really didn’t believe in myself very much."

Michael: "My mom. I remember waiting at the bus stop with her listening to the local radio. We would listen to the morning sports talk show on WIBC. She watched every game I was a part of. When I went with the Pacers it was easy. When I went with the Nets, she had League Pass, and she was watching every single Nets game. Around the time I was in New York, she began a battle with cancer. She, for a time, had beaten it. And then it came back strong right around the time my contract was ending with New York, and the Wolves were calling. And so she passed away about three days before I took the Wolves job. But I know that she’s extremely proud of seeing all the things that I’ve been able to do and that I followed my heart, and she’s been one who always wanted me to follow my own path and not to do what others wanted me to do."

Michael: "We can’t lose sight that it’s a game at the end of the day so I want to be on top of the action and all that and I want to meet the moment whenever there are highlight plays but I want people to leave games with Jim and I feeling like they had a good time watching. If the Wolves lose by 10 we still had a good time. "