The Minnesota Timberwolves have finally finished a difficult stretch of games, but yet seem stuck. It’s time for Minnesota to capitalize and look at their best case scenario.
The Minnesota Timberwolves just went through a gauntlet of hard teams. Through that stretch, Minnesota found themselves playing – the Portland Trailblazers, Utah Jazz, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Seems like a lot… doesn’t it? That’s every team Minnesota has played in the month of March, albeit the New York Knicks which was an ‘easy’ win. The list may have dragged on, but all of those teams are some of the NBA’s best.
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Surprisingly, Minnesota fared better than you’d expect. Through the entire month of March, they finished 4-6 and that was without All-Star Jimmy Butler. Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns have been huge through that stretch. Moreover, you can’t discredit Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson, Nemanja Bjelica and the bench play either.
The Western Conference is not going to get any easier with the playoffs right around the corner. The Wolves season ends April 11 and the playoffs start on April 14. That means that teams are going to be ramping up their energy even more to get the final seed in the playoffs or work for home court advantage.
Minnesota currently lies eighth in the West, with a 42-33 record. This is their first winning season since 2005.
With their win last night, the Minnesota Timberwolves clinched at least a .500 record. This is the first time since the 2004-05 season that Minnesota will finish at least .500. That is a period of 12 years without winning even half their games.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) March 21, 2018
The remainder of the season Minnesota will play the Memphis Grizzlies (ugh, again), Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Jazz, Denver Nuggets (2x), and the Los Angeles Lakers.
That schedule looks a lot of nicer than the one I just listed above. Best case scenario is for Minnesota to win all of their remaining games. Seems like a lot, but it’s really not that hard to do when you look at the schedule.
Utah and Denver are going to be the antagonists to grab Minnesota’s spot in the playoffs. Utah is in the playoffs as of now, and Denver was too, but the Nuggets are working their way back in. Even Los Angeles has been a lot better as of late, but infamously inconsistent.
Beyond that, Minnesota could easily win the remaining games. They won’t be easy, but they could end the season on a high note. Every game remaining is winnable and in order to make the playoffs, they’ll need to win the games against the lower end teams of the league – not like their recent game against the Grizzlies.
We’re leaving the box-score, because we can’t even deal with it.
Regardless, beating Denver and Utah helps Minnesota’s chances at making the playoffs. Utah and Denver are really one win or loss away from staying in front of the Wolves, or staying behind them. Beating those two teams would loosen any pressure between the three squads. Winning out would give Minnesota a 50-32 record as well, which is almost a dream at this point.
Of course we want teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans and the Trailblazers to lose as well. It’s a double win when the Thunder lose because they’re ahead of us in the standings and we own their draft pick.
Having those teams lose, while we win out would allow us to move ahead in the standings. Which would create a home court advantage scenario. Minnesota is a lot better when playing at home as well.
Next: We lost to the Grizzlies ...
Minnesota is 27-9 on the season when playing at the Target Center. They’re one of the best teams when it comes to home record. Getting that home court advantage would be huge because it would hopefully move them further in the playoffs.
Winning out after this terrible Grizzlies loss, having others lose, and getting home court advantage is the best case scenario right now. Seeing how everything is laid out, it seems quite possible that the Wolves’ could actually do that. Let’s hope for a good end of the season.