Minnesota Sports Forum

Luka AND Reaves out for the first round. Wolves better not get any bright ideas and try to avoid that matchup.

WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 4:40 pm Luka AND Reaves out for the first round. Wolves better not get any bright ideas and try to avoid that matchup.

The Wolves are limping into the playoffs, figuratively and literally. Just get as healthy as possible. They have no chance to move up.

But the Lakers without Reaves and Doncic might be sitting at #4.

Doncic: 34 ppg / 8 reb / 8 ast
Reaves: 23 ppg / 6 reb / 5 ast

I think tomorrow's game vs. Dallas will tell us a bit about how the Lakers will treat the rest of the regular season. They might not care about the #3 seed. With how they've handled Houston recently... that might be their preferred matchup.

Bring on Jokic, I guess.

WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 4:40 pm Luka AND Reaves out for the first round. Wolves better not get any bright ideas and try to avoid that matchup.

Yeah, I saw that Reaves injury early in the 1st quarter, about the same time Luke had a little “tweak” to his hamstring (the big tweak came later). Reaves played thru it, but I thought it might be a problem going forward. Apparently it is!

There is a post game locker room clip with JJ Reddick praising everyone after their win over the Cavs, and then JJ being praised for his 2nd straight 50+ win season, along with a tribute video from his kids. That didn’t age well to have their top 2 stars go down for an extended time the very next game…

Denver beating the Spurs hurts the chances of LA finishing the 3rd seed.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 5:18 pm Denver beating the Spurs hurts the chances of LA finishing the 3rd seed.

Denver has an interesting situation. Would they rather face Minnesota then San Antonio or Houston then OKC? Maybe they don't care.

Phenom wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 5:37 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 5:18 pm Denver beating the Spurs hurts the chances of LA finishing the 3rd seed.

Denver has an interesting situation. Would they rather face Minnesota then San Antonio or Houston then OKC? Maybe they don't care.

If I'm being honest. There is not a team that wants to face a healthy timberwolves in the playoffs.

Every team will be hard to beat. Every team has no idea how to operate against this team.

I know I'm piling on here and probably boring most of you, but evidence continues to mount as to why this is the worst end of season the NBA has ever had. Try this one on for size: there have only been 2 days in the 80 years of NBA history where at least nine games were played with an average margin of victory being at least 24 points. One was 2 days ago, the other was last Sunday. NBA fans are being cheated out of their money in most games the past month.

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2026 12:35 pm I know I'm piling on here and probably boring most of you, but evidence continues to mount as to why this is the worst end of season the NBA has ever had. Try this one on for size: there have only been 2 days in the 80 years of NBA history where at least nine games were played with an average margin of victory being at least 24 points. One was 2 days ago, the other was last Sunday. NBA fans are being cheated out of their money in most games the past month.

The whole league is consuming itself. I really don't know if yesteryear's players were just tougher, or if the more thicker, muscular players of today just put more stress on their soft tissues. If you can't manage to keep your best players on the court for the massive TV contract you have, it just doesn't seem sustainable to me. Extending the season and eliminating back to backs could help and I think it would be worth a try. I don't like the idea of less games, I mean, where does it end? Do you end up at 50 games and keep a full playoff season? The playoffs are what the networks are paying for, so you can't run a college style tournament. However I DO think once they go to 32 teams, the bottom 16 should play a college style tournament for draft placement. But what if you don't own your own pIck? I don't know, it's a mess.

Phenom wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 5:37 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 5:18 pm Denver beating the Spurs hurts the chances of LA finishing the 3rd seed.

Denver has an interesting situation. Would they rather face Minnesota then San Antonio or Houston then OKC? Maybe they don't care.

I don't think it matters. I said before the season Nuggets are making it back to finals this time now that they actually have a full roster around Jokic.

Mnwild1128 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2026 9:19 pm

Phenom wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 5:37 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2026 5:18 pm Denver beating the Spurs hurts the chances of LA finishing the 3rd seed.

Denver has an interesting situation. Would they rather face Minnesota then San Antonio or Houston then OKC? Maybe they don't care.

I don't think it matters. I said before the season Nuggets are making it back to finals this time now that they actually have a full roster around Jokic.

They have to stay healthy, if Gordon goes down again they're toast. Watson is one of their best defenders, and he isn't coming back anytime soon.