We should definitely win at the Knicks, home against Memphis twice, at Dallas, and home against the Hawks. If we lose any of those games, frankly we don't deserve to make the playoffs. Other than Dallas, those other teams are actively tanking, and arguably Dallas is too.
The Lakers are playing well right now, which sucks for us, because that looked like a gimme earlier this season. That game scares me. That's a team that is auditioning to attract free agents and they're without a pick to lose. Plus Randle, IT, and KCP(?) playing for contracts. They are dangerous right now.
The Nuggets (twice!), Spurs, Clippers, and Jazz games are what this season is going to come down to, because those are the teams we're competing against to stay in the playoffs. We can't take those other games for granted, but those are the biggies, starting with the Spurs. The Nuggs have Millsap back now too, so they could be better than we've seen before. Could come down to the very last game against them.
Man!
What It Will Take
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Camden [enjin:6601484]
- Posts: 18065
- Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:00 am
Re: What It Will Take
I'm not ready to say that the 3-seed is completely out of play after looking at the rest of the schedule. Monster, I think, has commented on it a couple times, but we have a softer schedule than the other teams competing for that 3-8 seed.
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SameOldNudityDrew
- Posts: 3010
- Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2013 12:00 am
Re: What It Will Take
Camden wrote:I'm not ready to say that the 3-seed is completely out of play after looking at the rest of the schedule. Monster, I think, has commented on it a couple times, but we have a softer schedule than the other teams competing for that 3-8 seed.
That's true, and based on that we possibly get 3rd. But we're inconsistent right now and missing our best player (although Towns is looking pretty damn good lately!), so we could just as easily slip out completely.
The gap between the 3 seed and 10th place in the West is so close right now. I don't remember ever seeing such a tight race toward the end of the season, though maybe it's just because I haven't had a reason to pay much attention the last 14 years or so!
Re: What It Will Take
SameOldDrew wrote:Camden wrote:I'm not ready to say that the 3-seed is completely out of play after looking at the rest of the schedule. Monster, I think, has commented on it a couple times, but we have a softer schedule than the other teams competing for that 3-8 seed.
That's true, and based on that we possibly get 3rd. But we're inconsistent right now and missing our best player (although Towns is looking pretty damn good lately!), so we could just as easily slip out completely.
The gap between the 3 seed and 10th place in the West is so close right now. I don't remember ever seeing such a tight race toward the end of the season, though maybe it's just because I haven't had a reason to pay much attention the last 14 years or so!
I suppose 3rd seed isn't out of the realm of possibility my angle on letting the Blazers have it (theoretically) is if they stay hot and win they play the Thunder once Clippers twice and Pels once. If we could end up with the 4th seed that sounds good. At this point just getting in and home court sounds good we have no idea who we will face in a series because it's so bunched up. Getting a win against Washington on the road was big.
Re: What It Will Take
SameOldNudityDrew wrote:We should definitely win at the Knicks, home against Memphis twice, at Dallas, and home against the Hawks. If we lose any of those games, frankly we don't deserve to make the playoffs. Other than Dallas, those other teams are actively tanking, and arguably Dallas is too.
The Lakers are playing well right now, which sucks for us, because that looked like a gimme earlier this season. That game scares me. That's a team that is auditioning to attract free agents and they're without a pick to lose. Plus Randle, IT, and KCP(?) playing for contracts. They are dangerous right now.
The Nuggets (twice!), Spurs, Clippers, and Jazz games are what this season is going to come down to, because those are the teams we're competing against to stay in the playoffs. We can't take those other games for granted, but those are the biggies, starting with the Spurs. The Nuggs have Millsap back now too, so they could be better than we've seen before. Could come down to the very last game against them.
Man!
I had the Mavs game as a Wolves win a couple weeks ago, but the Mavs have been playing really well since Cuban's tanking comment and the Wolves have been a really bad road team. In fact, the Wolves have the worst road record among all the current top 8 teams in the West. Otherwise, we absolutely should be the Knicks on the road while winning our 2 home games against Memphis and our 1 home game against the Hawks. I agree we don't deserve to make the playoffs if we lose any of those 4 games.
The key games will be our home games against the Nuggets, Clippers and Jazz. If we win those three and the four we have no business losing, we'll finish with 47 wins and, in my view, a 4th or 5th seed. But I'd really like to see the Wolves somehow steal that game in San Antonio or knock off the Rockets at home. Either is possible if both KAT and Wiggins have great games. Imagine Wiggins playing defense all 4 quarters in those games at the level he played defensively in the 4th quarter last night. Imagine further that he plays on the offensive end for at least 2 maybe even 3 quarters the way he played offensively in the 4th quarter last night. That's what it will take.