Minnesota Sports Forum

I was hoping the Mavs might give the Thunder a klunker tonight, but Luka is out. Of course, there is a reason they still play the games!

I finally faced reality, and re-analyzed my forecast in light of the KAT absence. I've been surmising that, even though I see little chance of the Wolves dropping out the top 4, I saw them destined to drop to 4th...with a tough first round series against the Pels. The good news is that even after changing 3 forecasted home wins to losses (Denver, Cleveland, and Phoenix) I still have the Wolves tied with the Clips at 54 wins (congrats to projected 2023-4 wins prediction champ Carlos Danger!)...and we have the tiebreaker. I note that Cool also has us at 54 wins, so perhaps he already wasn't as optimistic about some of the home games against contenders as I was. I'm not saying a first round matchup is going to be a cakewalk...the West is just so balanced. But I think our opponent will be slightly easier to beat than the Pelicans. And even better...we could have a better 2nd round matchup against the Thunder instead of the Nuggets. Miles to go before we sleep, but i see us weathering the KAT injury better than I would have thought 2 weeks ago.

My updated forecast, now with some separation at the top:

Denver: 58
OkC 56
Wolves 54
Clips 54

Yes, I still have us at 54 and am expecting a sweep in Utah

Something that has been quietly brewing is the play of the Rockets. They are not far off making the play-in. The loser of the Warriors/Lakers game tonight might find themselves in an unexpected battle!

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2024 7:45 pm Something that has been quietly brewing is the play of the Rockets. They are not far off making the play-in. The loser of the Warriors/Lakers game tonight might find themselves in an unexpected battle!

....and I have been quietly rooting for them. It would be nice to see either the Lakers or Golden State knocked out of the play-in entirely, but there isn't much time left.

Crazy ending to the Dallas-Denver game. Dallas had a commanding lead in the 4th that Denver methodically chipped away at and eventually took the lead. Doncic ties it up with a long 3-pointer, then Murray misses a mid-range jumper on the other end, and with 3 seconds left Irving hits a crazy left-handed runner from 18 feet out. Mavs win.

I'm assuming this wasn't a klunker for the Nuggets in the models some of you are keeping?

Yeah, entertaining end of the game!

I was worried the Nuggets would win and get an anti-klunker. So, you’re right, no change in the forecast. Same will be true on Tuesday when the Wolves host the Nuggets.

I've got us at 55 wins now, and another win Monday would increase that to 56.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2024 7:50 pm I've got us at 55 wins now, and another win Monday would increase that to 56.

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I'm trying to figure out your model, Cool...did you have us losing both games in Utah, so winning both would get us from 54 to 56? I hope your 56 happens, because that might be good enough for a second place tie with OkC.

Hopefully I don't jinx it but Atlanta is currently destroying the clippers at the end of the third quarter