Let's go on the record. By the end of January...

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

the Wolves will be 27-19. That's right...27-19. That means we are going to go 15-6 in our next 21 games. I'm inviting everyone to look at the upcoming schedule, and go on the record with me as to what the Wolves' record will be on January 31. Come on...it will only take you a couple minutes to do it.

I'm initiating this game as a public service to try to get some of our board members off the ledge. Last night's loss seemed to have a big impact on many of us. I wasn't happy with it either, but it wasn't all that surprising. I've documented before that the Wolves' eFG% drops over 6 percentage points in BTBs, and the only guy who doesn't significantly drop and our second leading scorer (Kevin Martin), wasn't playing. Vegas had it as pretty much a pick 'em, but it really set up as a loss to me with Martin out.

But as you go through the upcoming schedule, it's easy to see that brighter days are ahead. It's full of Utahs, Milwaukees, Sacramentos and Torontos. 27-19 is my prediction. What do you got?

The big caveat is Martin. If he is out for a long time, all bets are off. Let's hope he's not. We'll miss Cunningham also (I expect him to be out until after Christmas), but we can survive that loss. And the impending return of Turiaf and Budinger does wonders for our depth.

27-19.

Predictions:

Phenom 28-18
Longstrangetrip 27-19
Camden 27-19
Maelstrom 27-19
Markkbu 26-20
Q 25-21
Doper 25-21
Mstermisty 25-21
Abe 24-22
Tpoff 24-22
Lloyd 24-22
Rage 23-23
Lipoli 23-23
WildWolf 23-23

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I think that's a little optimistic, but it's possible.

I have them at 13-8 through the end of January, which still puts them at 25-21 and in the mix for the 8th seed.

Even though we lost to Boston, I don't quite view it as the end of the world, similar to you LST. The wins @Detroit and @Memphis were good, solid road wins. I'm hoping we can somehow take one out of the next three. If we can do that, then I think 13-8 or better is a very realistic prediction, because the schedule really eases up after the games in LA.

[AbeVigodaLive]

24 - 22. Barring injuries.

The loss last night wasn't the end of the world. In fact, it was sorta predictable. But that's the problem I had with it. Good teams overcome those types of games. Middling teams don't...

The Wolves seem like a front-running team thus far. Well... more accurately... they are. Give them a lead and they're likely to pull away in a laugher. But muck it up... and throw some adversity in there... and the results haven't been so favorable.

So, maybe they get on a hot streak and they can build confidence as a frontrunner.

[thedoper]

I have 25-21 too. They have yet to win as a legit underdog, I just basically kept that trend and added one WTF loss as the favorite. Although there could be more than one of those so Abe could be right on the money.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

All good guesses...just not the correct one :) . I have updated the standings in the original post.

Not quite sure if this is a sports prediction exercise or a psychological test.

[tpoff217]

I have at 24-22 just like Abe. The quality of play is so inconsistent that it's hard for me seeing them winning anymore than that.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

27-19.

vs POR: W
@ LAL: W
@ LAC: L
vs WAS: W
@ MIL: W
vs DAL: L
vs NO: W
vs OKC: L
@ PHI: W
vs PHO: W
vs CHA: W
@ SA: L
vs SAC: W
@TOR: W
vs UTA: W
@ UTA: W
@GS: L
@ POR: L
@ CHI: W
vs NO: W
vs MEM: W

15-6 over next 21. Questionable games that are coin flips: vs POR, @ LAC, vs DAL, vs OKC, @ SA and @ TOR.

We just can't keep losing to "easy" opponents like we did last night.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I'll say 12-9, so 24-22. I wish I could be more optimistic (btw, where is 60wintim? Is he losing opTIMism?), but it looks like the injuries are starting to pile up and will linger throughout the year with 1 or 2 key guys being out the duration.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

With the injuries a couple winnable games early and I'd say we go 11-10 and get back to .500. My silver lining in this is I think Dieng will get minutes if Cunningham is out a few games and work his way into somewhat of a rotation with Love and Pek.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

We have several entries, and they seem to be clustering around 24-22...I hope they're wrong, because I would be disappointed with that record after this easy stretch of games (barring significant injuries, of course). Cam and I are the optimists with 27-19.

Cam, I picked all the games exactly as you did except for two. I had us beating Dallas and losing to Chicago (although I really think we will beat the Bulls...that's my cushion game). Why do you pick Dallas, who is 4-8 on the road, to beat us on our home court?