Explaining tiebreakers relevant to the Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves are the closest they’ve been in a long time to securing a playoff berth. If they can secure a spot, however, things get complicated due to a series of tiebreakers.

The Denver Nuggets currently hold the same record as the Timberwolves but are technically sitting outside the playoff picture in ninth thanks to Minnesota’s current 2-1 lead in the season series. Of course, the Wolves and Nuggets play against one another on Wednesday, so it’s impossible for them to finish with the exact same record.

After the Timberwolves and Spurs won on Monday, the Wolves could have clinched a playoff spot with a Denver loss to Portland. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

Here is what we were all hoping for entering play on Monday night:

The Nuggets’ win means that we’ll play what is essentially a play-in game on Wednesday in Minneapolis, in which the victor will be attending the postseason and the loser will spend the offseason wondering what might have been.

If the Timberwolves manage to make it inside the top-eight, it’s possible to leapfrog Oklahoma City and New Orleans, however unlikely that might be. With a series against Houston or Golden State awaiting the eighth and seventh seeds, respectively, the Timberwolves should hope for as high a finish as possible, and thanks to some tie-breakers, that may just be possible.

If the Timberwolves make the playoffs, here’s how things currently stand against other teams. For a full rundown on how tie-breakers work for the NBA playoffs, you can check this link, but I’ll do my best to explain here.

The first step to determine seeding is of course regular season record. With such a tight Western Conference, the Timberwolves may end up with the same record as one or more of our fellow playoff-hunters, in which case the following takes place.

The second step is the win percentage in games against each other. This is how that stacks up for the Wolves, according to CBS Sports;

• Timberwolves WIN tiebreakers over: Thunder (3-1), Pelicans (4-0)
• Timberwolves LOSE tiebreaker to: Spurs (1-2)
• Timberwolves split tiebreaker with: Jazz (2-2)

The Wolves hold a better conference record than the other teams in the playoff race, however the preceding division record is where it gets messy with Portland, Utah, Oklahoma City, Minnesota and Denver all in the same division, and a number of games within the division still to take place in the remainder of the season.

Here’s a solid breakdown of what could happen on Wednesday.

It’s going to be crazy, folks.

Next: Wolves roundup - Butler's return

We’ll have additional coverage leading up to and after the game on Wednesday. And here’s hoping for an end to the 14-year drought…