Schedule rest of the year does not look good

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

New Orleans - W - Actual L
Chicago - W - Actual W
Cleveland - L - Actual L
@ Denver - L - Actual W
Dallas - W - Actual W
@ Houston - L - Actual L
@ Sacramento - W/L - Actual W
@ Utah - L - Actual W
@ San Antonio - L - Actual L
Portland - W
Clippers - L
Warriors - L
@ Milwaukee - W/L
Washington - L
@ Boston - L
@ Miami - L
@ New Orleans - W/L
San Antonio - W
@ Lakers - W/L
@ Portland - L
@ Indiana - L
Lakers - W
Sacramento - W
@ Golden State - L
@ Portland - L
@ Utah - L
@ Lakers - W/L
OKC - L
@ Houston - L


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Lost on a night I expected us to lose, but we competed like hell and once again played great defense. We've got the next three at home. The Portland game is an absolute must win. Then may be we can pick off the Clips or Warriors. But we absolutely have to beat Portland.

[Coolbreeze44]

New Orleans - W - Actual L
Chicago - W - Actual W
Cleveland - L - Actual L
@ Denver - L - Actual W
Dallas - W - Actual W
@ Houston - L - Actual L
@ Sacramento - W/L - Actual W
@ Utah - L - Actual W
@ San Antonio - L - Actual L
Portland - W
Clippers - L
Warriors - L
@ Milwaukee - W/L
Washington - L
@ Boston - L
@ Miami - L
@ New Orleans - W/L
San Antonio - W
@ Lakers - W/L
@ Portland - L
@ Indiana - L
Lakers - W
Sacramento - W
@ Golden State - L
@ Portland - L
@ Utah - L
@ Lakers - W/L
OKC - L
@ Houston - L


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Lost on a night I expected us to lose, but we competed like hell and once again played great defense. We've got the next three at home. The Portland game is an absolute must win. Then may be we can pick off the Clips or Warriors. But we absolutely have to beat Portland.

Need to win 4 of the next 5 with one of those wins being Portland.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Just watched some Dallas-OKC. And dammit, Dallas has done it again. They have managed to scrap together a very good team. It's unbelievable how these guys manage to do this year after year. Seth effing Curry now looks like Steph effing Curry. Yogi Ferrell. Smh....it's these types of diamonds in the rough that the Wolves NEVER seem to find.

[MikkeMan]

I decided to update my 'optimistic' win loss estimate in this same Q's thread. Originally I 'predicted' (in reality I more or less hoped) following line for already played games (actual result after arrow):

Dallas - W -> W
@ Houston - W/L -> L
@ Sacramento - W -> W
@ Utah - W/L -> W
@ San Antonio - L -> L

So Wolves have played just as well I was hoping with one win and one loss in games with W/L category. All other games have ended just as I expected. For remaining schedule, I have made some updates as well. New expected result after arrow.

Portland - W Portland is one team that we have change to catch by just winning our remaining three games against them. Lillard and McCollum just seem to be too clutch but
Clippers - W-> W/L Originally I assumed that CP3 is not yet playing but it seems that he has been back already some time ago. Luckily it seems that Clippers have been struggling lately, so I think we have still change to upset them.
Warriors - L -> W/L Warriors's haven't looked that good after Durant was sidelined. Hopefully they'll struggle little longer and we have change to one more upset.
@ Milwaukee - W/L This is a tricky one. Bucks have been really struggling lately and they are missing Parker but Middleton is back and is maybe not that rusty anymore. I'll keep Q:s original prediction.
Washington - L -> W/L Washington has not anymore looked that good. Since this is our home game, I think we might have change for victory.
@ Boston - L Difficult to find any reason for hope against Boston.
@ Miami - W/L Miami's winning streak ended and I expect that they won't continue to play as well as during that streak. I also won't expect that they would hit again 15 three pointers against us. Should be winnable game for Wolves.
@ New Orleans - W/L This one won't be easy even tough New Orleans could really use more outside shooting. Both Boogie and Davis have had monster games against Wolves in past.
San Antonio - L I have no idea why this was a win in Q's list. Unless San Antonio rests all starters I don't see them losing.
@ Lakers - W Lakers traded their best scorer and I expect that they start tanking to have more hope to keep their pick next summer. (they lose it if it's not top3)
@ Portland - L 2nd game of back to back for us. Most probably loss even tough win would put us probably ahead of Portland.
@ Indiana - L Indiana has been really erratic this season. On good day they can win whatever team (wins against Clipper with CP3 twice and Houston and losses to Philly & Brooklyn) but they have played much better at home. So probably loss for Wolves.
Lakers - W See previous Lakers game
Sacramento - W See previous Sacramento game
@ Golden State - L Only chance would be that this is already meaningless game for Golden State and they rest some of their starters.
@ Portland - W/L I think this is a game that we have to win to have a any hope for playoffs.
@ Utah - L Second game of back to back for us. Probably no chance.
@ Lakers - W See previous Lakers game
OKC - W/L -> W OKC has been struggling now and I have feeling that and we will see soon that Westbrook is a human after all. He has been carrying a unbelievable load and it would be real superman level performance to continue same level until regular season is over. I think with recent struggles OKC won't have anymore change for higher than 7th seed at this point and they will rest Westbrook.
@ Houston - W I expect that this is meaningless game to Houston. They have secured 3rd seed before last game and I expect them to rest Harden.

So after changing my predictions to even more optimistic, I have Wolves final amount of wins between 32 and 39. Compared to ESPN estimates in playoff odds page, it seems that Wolves have really small margin of error since they expect that Denver will end with 38 wins. I noticed that with Wolves playing so well lately they have increased our win estimate to 34 and that they give Wolves 5.3% chance to make playoffs. In last week that number was below 3%.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/BPI-Playoff-Odds/espn-nba-basketball-power-index-playoff-oddshttp://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/BPI-Playoff-Odds/espn-nba-basketball-power-index-playoff-odds

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Nice breakdown Mikkeman.

On the San Antonio game I have as a "W"......I think at some point our guys get sick and tired of losing to them. Wiggins especially has to start taking the way Leonard has man-handled him personally and this is the game he finally has a break-through performance.

Overall, I agree that the playoffs are a major stretch given our schedule and the fact that Denver and Dallas are playing some good ball.

We killed ourselves with that early hole we dug in the first third of the season.

[60WinTim]

Denver with 38 wins?!? That seems VERY optimistic to me...

The Klunk-O-Meter standings through yesterday are (and still sticking with the "tiers" I made post all-star break):

Portland 36 wins (up 2)
Sacramento 32 wins (down 3)
New Orleans 32 wins (even)
Denver 32 wins (up 1)
Dallas 32 wins (up 2)
Wolves 30 wins (up 2)

Besides needing help, the Wolves will likely HAVE to win all 3 remaining games against Portland.

[Monster]

Just watched some Dallas-OKC. And dammit, Dallas has done it again. They have managed to scrap together a very good team. It's unbelievable how these guys manage to do this year after year. Seth effing Curry now looks like Steph effing Curry. Yogi Ferrell. Smh....it's these types of diamonds in the rough that the Wolves NEVER seem to find.

All we have to do is find the next under appreciated guard that the Kings let go and we scoop them up.

Carlisle is one of the ELITE coaches in the league. He does everything offense defense playoffs develops guys...what more do you want. Dallas also had opportunity to give some guys chances...that helps especially when you have a really good coach and have some players that know how to play.

[60WinTim]

Close game in OKC tonight! If Portland pulls it out, I am almost ready to award them the 8th seed... :(

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Close game in OKC tonight! If Portland pulls it out, I am almost ready to award them the 7th seed... :(

Bad night for the Wolves, as both Portland and Dallas move a little further ahead of us. Bad luck for the Wolves, because it's more likely Portland loses in OkC tonight if they had played last night.

[maelstrom11 [enjin:6599701]]

Any word on when the Blazer game will be made-up? Let's hope its not on a night after the Wolves just played or a night before a big game. I could totally see the league doing that to us. Not to mention... will the Blazers have to fly in to play us after they just played?? In reality they should schedule this game into Portland's schedule forcing them into a back to back since they lost a back to back when this game was cancelled. In an scenario...this game will be BIG!