Mock Playoffs: Dec. 11-Jan. 11

[DNatagal]

The Wolves have been in first place in the West for 37 consecutive days. They only managed 10 TOTAL days in first since their inception!!!

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Ok, after the loss to the Thunder, we're now 1-1 in the second round of these mock playoffs. How do we bounce back after a loss? Time to find out (again).

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Man, Luka out. That kind of sucks. Makes this feel less like a mock playoff game, but I'll count it anyway. We need to come out like they've got Luka and Kyrie and just leave them no hope.

[Q-is-here]

Ok, after the loss to the Thunder, we're now 1-1 in the second round of these mock playoffs. How do we bounce back after a loss? Time to find out (again).

2-1 now. Denver and OKC must be getting a little frustrated seeing us draw these games with key guys out for our opponents. This is the part of our schedule where they should be able to potentially catch us in the standings.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Ok, 3-1 now in round 2 of the mock playoffs. Let's close this second mock series out and make sure we don't lose a series, even if we can't win a third set of four games before the 11th.

We've definitely had plenty of luck in this stretch, so I think our record so far since this tough stretch started (7-3) probably overstates our strength. At the same time, we're taking care of business, and some of these wins have had real playoff intensity, which is important.

[Q-is-here]

Ok, 3-1 now in round 2 of the mock playoffs. Let's close this second mock series out and make sure we don't lose a series, even if we can't win a third set of four games before the 11th.

We've definitely had plenty of luck in this stretch, so I think our record so far since this tough stretch started (7-3) probably overstates our strength. At the same time, we're taking care of business, and some of these wins have had real playoff intensity, which is important.

I feel like the wins @Miami, @Dallas, and @Sacramento were legit "wow, we really are a great team" type wins. I almost put this Laker game up there even though it was a home game. AD is an absolute stud and at the top of his game. It was LeBron's birthday and he really wanted the win based on his entitled whining after the game. And the Lakers recently made a change to their starting lineup that has made them better defensively. So I think it was an impressive win given the circumstances.

Speaking of luck, OKC is ridiculously lucky. Their starters have missed 6 games total out of 150 opportunities (5X30 games played). I hate to wish ill-will upon a franchise, but c'mon, no one stays that healthy for an entire season. Plus they have not played a lot of road games yet. And what does Denver do if Jokic ever misses a game? He's as important to them as Doncic is to Dallas.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

3-2 after the loss to the Knicks. 5 more games until Portland. Tough to imagine we'll sweep those next 5 and pull out a third mock playoff series win, but as long as we take care of business in the next game or two, we should at least avoid losing a mock series through this tough stretch of games. We will have to face the Clippers right after the Portland game, but there are a mix if sub-.500 teams mixed in with the good teams in the coming weeks, which will be good.

[FNG]

3-2 after the loss to the Knicks. 5 more games until Portland. Tough to imagine we'll sweep those next 5 and pull out a third mock playoff series win, but as long as we take care of business in the next game or two, we should at least avoid losing a mock series through this tough stretch of games. We will have to face the Clippers right after the Portland game, but there are a mix if sub-.500 teams mixed in with the good teams in the coming weeks, which will be good.

We get the Pellies on the back end of a BTB...man, that has happened a lot this season! So I look for us to win the current playoff series 4-2 and advance to the next round (which as you said probably won't be completed).

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Ok, a loss to the Pelicans put us at 3-3 in the second round of the mock playoffs, and then we took care of business in Houston to close out the second series. Not as convincing as the first mock series (which we took 4-2), but I'll take it.

Only more straight games against .500+ teams before our schedule starts looking a bit more mixed, so there won't be a full third round of the mock playoffs. But since we're at 8-5 in this tough stretch, it would be nice to get to 10 wins by taking two of the next three, so maybe we can set that as a goal.

Looking ahead, we'll have some serious tests against Boston, the Clippers, and OKC twice more this month. It would be nice to see us do well against those teams, but we also need to make sure to take care of business against weaker teams to keep our seeding high and just overall keep the good vibes of winning going.

Quick note looking back on this last slate of games since Dec. 11, the Pelicans have beaten us twice after we beat them twice (at least once without Zion), so that's a team I'd keep an eye on as the season progresses as a possible playoff matchup at some point.

Those two OKC games in January are going to be big too. We're currently 1-1 against them and that team is good.

We've beaten Dallas twice, but once was without Kyrie and the other time was without both Luka and Kyrie.

The West has some good teams, and it's refreshing to actually be so good we can think about who we might face in the playoffs.

For now though, let's finish these "mock playoffs" with 10 wins to top our two series wins.

[60WinTim]

You could extend the mock playoffs by only counting games against .500+ teams. That way we can get a premonition on how far we will go in the real playoffs!