Jim Mora playoffs thread

[FNG]

Tim. I also have the Wolves at 41 wins, but I have them in a 4-way tie for 7th with the Mavs, Lakers and Pels. I think we have the tiebreaker in that scenario and would host a tiebreaker.

Biggest upside? We win one of the next three games, and get to a projected 42 wins

Biggest risk? We lose our home game to the Lakers now that LeBron might be back. That would be a Klunker on my sheet, and drop us to 40 wins and a tie for 10th place with OkC.

[FNG]

Dallas was favored by 16 in that game by the way...tough to bounce back from a loss like that

Just saying I called the Mavs collapse 4 weeks ago it's only going to get worse there.

Yep, you get credit for that call, jester...I didn't see it happening. And now they're down 9 to the Hornets after three quarters in the rematch. I'd love to see them lose another one.

[Monster]

Dallas was favored by 16 in that game by the way...tough to bounce back from a loss like that

Just saying I called the Mavs collapse 4 weeks ago it's only going to get worse there.

Yep, you get credit for that call, jester...I didn't see it happening. And now they're down 9 to the Hornets after three quarters in the rematch. I'd love to see them lose another one.

I was also someone that wasn't exactly worried about the Mavs when they got Kyrie. He has problems staying healthy and they gave up worthwhile players to get him. In theory he and Luka have some elements of their game that can compliment each other but recently that has not gone as well with high usage guards playing together.

On Twitter last night I saw a number of tweets from Dallas fans that say they can't guard anyone which is a real problem if true and it wouldn't be a big surprise. Replacing DFS with Kyrie isn't gonna help the defense.

Just watched the last 2 minutes of the game today. Other than 1 bad shot by Hayward the Hornets basically got easy baskets. What a bad showing for the Mavs losing back to back games against a team starting a couple bench guys in the backcourt.

[BloopOracle]

Great news for us again, with the Mavericks and Jazz faltering maybe we can get some breathing room from the missing the play in cutoff!

[FNG]

Lots of movement on my spreadsheet with upset wins by Minnesota, Charlotte and the Bulls (good) and OkC (bad, and fu#* Portland for playing their JV team). I now have the Wolves tied for 6th with the Warriors with 42 wins, and we are likely to win the tiebreaker with a better conference record. If it finishes that way, we will skip the play in and likely play Sac-Town in the playoffs (shades of 2004!). Wouldn't that be fun?

Pels and Thunder are right behind us with 41 wins, and Dallas and the Lakers are now 2 games behind us with 40 wins. Everything looks a lot brighter tonight!

[Jester1534]

Dallas was favored by 16 in that game by the way...tough to bounce back from a loss like that

Just saying I called the Mavs collapse 4 weeks ago it's only going to get worse there.

Yep, you get credit for that call, jester...I didn't see it happening. And now they're down 9 to the Hornets after three quarters in the rematch. I'd love to see them lose another one.

I was also someone that wasn't exactly worried about the Mavs when they got Kyrie. He has problems staying healthy and they gave up worthwhile players to get him. In theory he and Luka have some elements of their game that can compliment each other but recently that has not gone as well with high usage guards playing together.

On Twitter last night I saw a number of tweets from Dallas fans that say they can't guard anyone which is a real problem if true and it wouldn't be a big surprise. Replacing DFS with Kyrie isn't gonna help the defense.

Just watched the last 2 minutes of the game today. Other than 1 bad shot by Hayward the Hornets basically got easy baskets. What a bad showing for the Mavs losing back to back games against a team starting a couple bench guys in the backcourt.

As Chris finch said Kyle Anderson might not be our best player but he might be our most important player.

I feel the same way about DFS for the Mavs and that's why it's not working there. It would be equivalent of trading our glue guy in Kyle Anderson away if that makes sense. Every team has one.

[60WinTim]

Yeah, the KOM saw some big changes, too! It predicts a 4-way tie for 4th place with the Wolves, Clippers, Suns and Warriors. Unfortunately, the Blazers have shelved Lillard, and moving them into the bottom tier gets the Warriors an extra win. But the Clippers losing George could result in a klunker or two...

I am starting to think the wolves have a real shot at avoiding the play-in. One could argue the 6th seed is most ideal because you get whoever is playing worse between the Kings and Griz.

I wonder if Fox is playing tonight?

[FNG]

Yeah, the KOM saw some big changes, too! It predicts a 4-way tie for 4th place with the Wolves, Clippers, Suns and Warriors. Unfortunately, the Blazers have shelved Lillard, and moving them into the bottom tier gets the Warriors an extra win. But the Clippers losing George could result in a klunker or two...

I am starting to think the wolves have a real shot at avoiding the play-in. One could argue the 6th seed is most ideal because you get whoever is playing worse between the Kings and Griz.

I wonder if Fox is playing tonight?

He's listed as questionable, so at best he'll be a little hampered by his hammy. Sac-Town is good and we're coming off a tough game last night, but we beat them last game on their court when they had Fox and we didn't have KAT. They are only 2-2 in their last 4 games, and their 2 wins were not impressive...Phoenix without Durant and Ayton, and Utah missing their top three scorers. This is a winnable game. We need a bounce back game from Jaden and better shooting from KAT and Ant (assuming they play).

You make a good point about what the ideal playoff position might be...I agree that finishing 6th might be ideal. What's most important though is that we are healthy and playing our best basketball when the playoffs start. The only team that scares me is the Suns if they are 100% healthy, so finishing 5th would not be ideal (since the Suns are most likely to finish 4th).

[Monster]

Dallas was favored by 16 in that game by the way...tough to bounce back from a loss like that

Just saying I called the Mavs collapse 4 weeks ago it's only going to get worse there.

Yep, you get credit for that call, jester...I didn't see it happening. And now they're down 9 to the Hornets after three quarters in the rematch. I'd love to see them lose another one.

I was also someone that wasn't exactly worried about the Mavs when they got Kyrie. He has problems staying healthy and they gave up worthwhile players to get him. In theory he and Luka have some elements of their game that can compliment each other but recently that has not gone as well with high usage guards playing together.

On Twitter last night I saw a number of tweets from Dallas fans that say they can't guard anyone which is a real problem if true and it wouldn't be a big surprise. Replacing DFS with Kyrie isn't gonna help the defense.

Just watched the last 2 minutes of the game today. Other than 1 bad shot by Hayward the Hornets basically got easy baskets. What a bad showing for the Mavs losing back to back games against a team starting a couple bench guys in the backcourt.

As Chris finch said Kyle Anderson might not be our best player but he might be our most important player.

I feel the same way about DFS for the Mavs and that's why it's not working there. It would be equivalent of trading our glue guy in Kyle Anderson away if that makes sense. Every team has one.

Yep I thought replacing DFS was a problem when the trade happened and you illustrated in perfectly. I think they end up just playing small and again that hurts their D which I think wasn't as good as it was last year before the trade

[FNG]

Portland is clearly tanking as they put their JV team out there every night, so I have adjusted my spreadsheet. Here's my current forecast with only 6 games left for the Wolves:

1. Nuggets 56
2, Griz 51
3. Kings 49
4. Suns 45
5. Wolves 43
6. Warriors 43
7. Pels 42
8. Clips 42
9. Thunder 41
10. Dallas 40
11. Lakers 40

12. Jazz 38

The Wolves, Pels and Dallas own the tiebreaker. Takeaways?

1) The Wolves would open on the road with a 4-5 matchup against the Suns. But if they somehow can upset the Suns tomorrow night, we would have home court advantage in the same 4-5 matchup since they would hold the tiebreaker (both teams would be at 44 wins

2) We have a good chance of knocking the Lakers out of the play in on Friday night if we can beat the Lakers!

3) Lip will be the wins prediction champion this year if the Wolves do indeed finish with 43 wins, or even if they finish with 42. Sorry Abe.

LFG Wolves!!!!!!