Minnesota Timberwolves NBA Schedule Release: December will be the toughest challenge

Breaking down the Minnesota Timberwolves 2018-19 schedule reveals one month to be a significantly tougher test than the others: December.

The Minnesota Timberwolves started the 2017-18 campaign with a 7-3 record in their first 10 games but stumbled to close out the month of November.

December was their best month, however, as they tallied a 10-4 mark that included a five-game win-streak culminating in an overtime victory over the Denver Nuggets at Target Center two days after Christmas. That was more or less Jimmy Butler‘s coming out party with the Timberwolves, as he finally asserted himself and closed a game by willing his squad to victory.

It was on Dec. 31 that the Timberwolves started their one stretch of awesome defense, a streak that saw seven straight opponents score under 100 points, and the Wolves won five of seven games.

But this year, the Wolves will probably have to rely on a different strategy, given the gauntlet that the NBA scheduling committee served up for them.

In the month of December, the Wolves will:

• Play nine of 15 games on the road, including a stretch of seven of nine, which is part of a larger run of nine of 12.
• Eight of the 15 games are against playoff teams from last year, including the following teams that were top-four seeds in their respective conferences in April: Boston, Houston, at Portland, at Golden State.
• The four-game road trip is a West Coast swing, which includes road games at the Warriors and the Trail Blazers, as noted above.
• Mercifully, there is only one back-to-back set, and not until Dec. 30 and 31 in Miami and New Orleans. Of course, that means that the Wolves other 12 back-to-back sets are crammed into the other six months.

Thankfully, the end of November should be relatively soft, including a five-game homestand and seven of nine games at home, including contests against Brooklyn (twice), Memphis, Chicago, and Cleveland.

The Timberwolves need to plan on entering December with something like a 14-8 record if they want to be in a position for a top-four seed once the calendar flips to 2019. If they manage a December mark of 9-6, they would probably be pretty happy with where they’re sitting.

For the record, January doesn’t get much easier, but there is simply less travel, so it’s imperative that the Wolves get what they can before New Year’s.

Of course, the name of the game is fighting the war of attrition and doing your best to win whatever is on the schedule. Everyone plays tough games, it just so happens that the Wolves have a gauntlet of sorts in the month of December.