Minnesota Sports Forum

FNG wrote: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!!!!!!

This is good stuff Fungo

The KOM has the Suns and Wolves tied for 4th right now, and that assumes the Suns beat the Wolves tomorrow night. If the Wolves manage the upset, they would have a 2-game lead for the 4th seed, not to mention owning all or most tie-breakers.

60WinTim wrote:The KOM has the Suns and Wolves tied for 4th right now, and that assumes the Suns beat the Wolves tomorrow night. If the Wolves manage the upset, they would have a 2-game lead for the 4th seed, not to mention owning all or most tie-breakers.

Very close to my forecast, Tim, but I'm guessing you have the Suns losing both of their home games to the Nuggets while I have them winning both...that creates the 2-win difference we are forecasting for the Suns. I hope you're right...I'd love to open the playoffs on our home court!

Charlotte comes into OKC and knocks off the Thunder, now we root for the pelicans just for tonight against the Warriors

BloopOracle wrote:Charlotte comes into OKC and knocks off the Thunder, now we root for the pelicans just for tonight against the Warriors

Bryce McGowens with his first NBA start helps the Hornets get a win that...do they even want wins at this point? Lol I suppose the are pretty much locked in as the 4th worst team this year so it's all good.

Gilgeous Alexander didn't play

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Gilgeous Alexander didn't play

So you're saying the Thunder are tanking? ;-)

Super interesting night tonight -- Lakers, Mavs, Wolves and Clippers are all on the road and the KOM says they should all lose. Plenty of anti-klunker opportunities on the table tonight to rock the standings.

BTW - a Wolves win tonight could give them the inside track to the 4th seed and home-court in the first round. Who would of thunk that 10 days ago heading to play the Knicks in New York with ANT side-lined indefinitely and no return date set for KAT. Thank you, Taureen Prince for kicking this win streak off!

60WinTim wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Gilgeous Alexander didn't play

So you're saying the Thunder are tanking? ;-)

Dunno. He has a bad ankle. Apparently.

But I do know the OKC has the most fortunate fanbase in the NBA. They really only know winning and very successful tanking.

They "steal" a team that had Kevin Durant as a rookie. And then they landed Russell Westbrook in the next draft. The first year in OKC was bad (23 - 59), but who cares? There's always a several year honeymoon periods with new franchises. Wins and losses are largely irrelevant. Heck, the Timberwolves fired Bill Musselman because he won TOO MUCH!

That was followed by 11 straight winning seasons... some near-championship-level squads.

After only two years of tanking, the team is right in the mix again. But even better... because they're so far ahead of schedule with this rebuild... there's no real rush to make the playoffs this season. They don't even have their prized #2 pick Chet Holmgren. They have other valuable rookies anyway. Plus, they have like 29 upcoming draft picks to play with.

The OKC fans are in a podunk town as the only show in town. And the fans haven't had to suffer through any significant period of struggle or angst or ineptitude.

So tank away. There's no real pressure on them.

Tim, I'm pretty sure you were kidding about the Thunder tanking (the wink emoji is the giveaway)...I'm projecting them to finish in a 3-way tie with the Mavs and Lakers with 40 wins...two of those teams will make the playoffs. SGA's sprained ankle seems legit.

But you're right...there could be a lot of movement in your KOM tonight, and the Wolves could end the night in 4th place and home court advantage...wow! I'm in Tucson and considering driving up to Phoenix for tonight's game, but waiting for the resale prices to come down a little...I think the return of Durant will keep this one out of my price range :-( .

FNG wrote:Tim, I'm pretty sure you were kidding about the Thunder tanking (the wink emoji is the giveaway)...I'm projecting them to finish in a 3-way tie with the Mavs and Lakers with 40 wins...two of those teams will make the playoffs. SGA's sprained ankle seems legit.

But you're right...there could be a lot of movement in your KOM tonight, and the Wolves could end the night in 4th place and home court advantage...wow! I'm in Tucson and considering driving up to Phoenix for tonight's game, but waiting for the resale prices to come down a little...I think the return of Durant will keep this one out of my price range :-( .

I live in Prescott and was thinking the same thing. I think I'll go for a splurge on a Wolves Suns game 3 instead ;)