Playoff predictor

[Coolbreeze44]

Speaking of injuries, we have to give props to the Wolves training and medical staff. I continue to believe that they must be doing some cutting-edge stuff in order for the Wolves to stay this healthy relative to other teams. And this is multiple seasons now.

Maybe its the sporadic low energy and effort we all lament that's keeping injuries down

That's not as far fetched as it may seem. I think pacing yourself can cut down on injuries. Another thing that helps believe it or not is playing every game. If your body is conditioned to play it's less likely to break down.

[FNG]

Very few klunkers or anti-klunkers this past week, but the Wolves' klunker against the Magic dropped them down to 6th...which is where I continue to think they they will finish and playing at Denver in the first round. I do have them losing to the Clips tonight though, so a win would move them back ahead of the Lakers for 5th. Let's go!

OkC 62
Spurs 60
Nuggets 52
Rockets 51
Lakers 50
Wolves 50
Suns 46

With all the tanking teams, I'm seeing far fewer klunkers than we normally see, so the forecasted standings aren't changing much. But there is still just a 2-game spread between the 3rd place Nuggets and the 6th place Wolves, so just a couple klunkers or anti-klunkers could dramatically change things. The good news is while there is a chance of moving up for the Wolves, it's extremely unlikely they will drop lower than 6th. Almost no chance of being a play in team.

[Wolvesfan21]

Very few klunkers or anti-klunkers this past week, but the Wolves' klunker against the Magic dropped them down to 6th...which is where I continue to think they they will finish and playing at Denver in the first round. I do have them losing to the Clips tonight though, so a win would move them back ahead of the Lakers for 5th. Let's go!

OkC 62
Spurs 60
Nuggets 52
Rockets 51
Lakers 50
Wolves 50
Suns 46

With all the tanking teams, I'm seeing far fewer klunkers than we normally see, so the forecasted standings aren't changing much. But there is still just a 2-game spread between the 3rd place Nuggets and the 6th place Wolves, so just a couple klunkers or anti-klunkers could dramatically change things. The good news is while there is a chance of moving up for the Wolves, it's extremely unlikely they will drop lower than 6th. Almost no chance of being a play in team.

FNG was right, I was wrong. This team is shit and an embarrassment and 6th seed is now the best they can hope for. Just maybe they can pull their head out of their asses for the playoffs but I doubt it.

[FNG]

Very few klunkers or anti-klunkers this past week, but the Wolves' klunker against the Magic dropped them down to 6th...which is where I continue to think they they will finish and playing at Denver in the first round. I do have them losing to the Clips tonight though, so a win would move them back ahead of the Lakers for 5th. Let's go!

OkC 62
Spurs 60
Nuggets 52
Rockets 51
Lakers 50
Wolves 50
Suns 46

With all the tanking teams, I'm seeing far fewer klunkers than we normally see, so the forecasted standings aren't changing much. But there is still just a 2-game spread between the 3rd place Nuggets and the 6th place Wolves, so just a couple klunkers or anti-klunkers could dramatically change things. The good news is while there is a chance of moving up for the Wolves, it's extremely unlikely they will drop lower than 6th. Almost no chance of being a play in team.

FNG was right, I was wrong. This team is shit and an embarrassment and 6th seed is now the best they can hope for. Just maybe they can pull their head out of their asses for the playoffs but I doubt it.

WF, I don't agree that this team is shit. I would call them a very talented team whose 2 main scorers don't show up far too often during the regular season. But as some of the optimists here have said a few times, Ant's propensity to kick up his 2-way effort in the playoffs is a reason for some postseason optimism. I also don't agree that 6th is the best they can hope for...I have the Suns finishing so far behind us, I see 6th as actually the worst they can finish. And while I have had them 6th or 5th since I started this forecast three weeks ago, there is still a chance they can finish as high as 3rd. A win tonight is not out of the question and would bring them within 1 game of 3rd place Denver.

[Wolvesfan21]

Very few klunkers or anti-klunkers this past week, but the Wolves' klunker against the Magic dropped them down to 6th...which is where I continue to think they they will finish and playing at Denver in the first round. I do have them losing to the Clips tonight though, so a win would move them back ahead of the Lakers for 5th. Let's go!

OkC 62
Spurs 60
Nuggets 52
Rockets 51
Lakers 50
Wolves 50
Suns 46

With all the tanking teams, I'm seeing far fewer klunkers than we normally see, so the forecasted standings aren't changing much. But there is still just a 2-game spread between the 3rd place Nuggets and the 6th place Wolves, so just a couple klunkers or anti-klunkers could dramatically change things. The good news is while there is a chance of moving up for the Wolves, it's extremely unlikely they will drop lower than 6th. Almost no chance of being a play in team.

FNG was right, I was wrong. This team is shit and an embarrassment and 6th seed is now the best they can hope for. Just maybe they can pull their head out of their asses for the playoffs but I doubt it.

WF, I don't agree that this team is shit. I would call them a very talented team whose 2 main scorers don't show up far too often during the regular season. But as some of the optimists here have said a few times, Ant's propensity to kick up his 2-way effort in the playoffs is a reason for some postseason optimism. I also don't agree that 6th is the best they can hope for...I have the Suns finishing so far behind us, I see 6th as actually the worst they can finish. And while I have had them 6th or 5th since I started this forecast three weeks ago, there is still a chance they can finish as high as 3rd. A win tonight is not out of the question and would bring them within 1 game of 3rd place Denver.

How about now?

[FNG]

FNG was right, I was wrong. This team is shit and an embarrassment and 6th seed is now the best they can hope for. Just maybe they can pull their head out of their asses for the playoffs but I doubt it.

WF, I don't agree that this team is shit. I would call them a very talented team whose 2 main scorers don't show up far too often during the regular season. But as some of the optimists here have said a few times, Ant's propensity to kick up his 2-way effort in the playoffs is a reason for some postseason optimism. I also don't agree that 6th is the best they can hope for...I have the Suns finishing so far behind us, I see 6th as actually the worst they can finish. And while I have had them 6th or 5th since I started this forecast three weeks ago, there is still a chance they can finish as high as 3rd. A win tonight is not out of the question and would bring them within 1 game of 3rd place Denver.

How about now?

No change in my forecast because I had both the Wolves and Rockets losing last night. I still have them finishing 6th, a full 4 games ahead of the Suns. I know the Suns are only a game and a half behind us right now, but look at their schedule...after they likely beat the Tankpacers in their next game, I see them losing 4 road games in a row against Toronto, Boston, us and the Spurs. They are a bad team with Brooks and Williams still out for a few weeks. Now, if a depleted Suns team beats us next week on our court, then all bets are off, but I don't think they will. And as bad as we have looked the past three games, 3rd place is not an impossibility. I would put my money on 6th though.

[AussieWolf3]

I count 6 win em or you're not serious games left for the wolves, and 8 for the Lakers.

If LA gets to 52 they're completely out of reach, but 51 might be enough given the tie breakers.

Houston has.... 9 of those games yikes. Plus, for the wolves to leap both teams they likely need the Rockets to sweep the Lakers, but sweep the Rockets themselves.

The Timberwolves have done themselves zero favors with the cluckers they've had

[FNG]

I'm putting out the bat signal to Tim for an update on his Klunk-o-Meter. He had most of the contenders with far more wins than I did in his forecast, so I suspect he may have had a few klunkers in the past week. I've had almost none, mostly because the presence of so many tanking or just bad teams is making predictions pretty easy these days.

But today I think the Wolves have a chance of an upset and a huge anti-klunker that would move them ahead of the Lakers on my forecast with 51 wins.

[FNG]

I count 6 win em or you're not serious games left for the wolves, and 8 for the Lakers.

If LA gets to 52 they're completely out of reach, but 51 might be enough given the tie breakers.

Houston has.... 9 of those games yikes. Plus, for the wolves to leap both teams they likely need the Rockets to sweep the Lakers, but sweep the Rockets themselves.

The Timberwolves have done themselves zero favors with the cluckers they've had

That's an interesting way to look at the remaining games, Aussie. I agree that we probably have to sweep our 2 games with Houston to finish ahead of them, but I think we still finish behind the Lakers (actually tied, but losing the tiebreaker) if they lose their next two games to the Rockets...which I expect them to do.

[AussieWolf3]

I count 6 win em or you're not serious games left for the wolves, and 8 for the Lakers.

If LA gets to 52 they're completely out of reach, but 51 might be enough given the tie breakers.

Houston has.... 9 of those games yikes. Plus, for the wolves to leap both teams they likely need the Rockets to sweep the Lakers, but sweep the Rockets themselves.

The Timberwolves have done themselves zero favors with the cluckers they've had

That's an interesting way to look at the remaining games, Aussie. I agree that we probably have to sweep our 2 games with Houston to finish ahead of them, but I think we still finish behind the Lakers (actually tied, but losing the tiebreaker) if they lose their next two games to the Rockets...which I expect them to do.

Unfortunately the Lakers are playing really well and it's difficult for me to see them winning 50 games or less, and at this point I don't see the wolves getting to 51.

Without thinking too much about it, I'd say the Wolves finish 5th, but 6th is just as likely.

On the bright side, if Minnesota does finish with 52+ wins, they'll have really earned it over this final stretch and we're all going to be feeling a lot better about this team