Minnesota Sports Forum

BloopOracle wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:15 pm Hopefully I don't jinx it but Atlanta is currently destroying the clippers at the end of the third quarter

You didn't jinx it Bloop! Clippers lose at home to Atlanta with Harden, Kawhi, and George all playing. Wolves now hold a 4-game lead over the 4th seed and 5-game lead over the 5th seed.

Thanks to our keeping our head above water with Towns out and some of these klunkers by other teams, we are solidifying a top 3 spot and still in the running for the #1 seed.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:44 am

BloopOracle wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:15 pm Hopefully I don't jinx it but Atlanta is currently destroying the clippers at the end of the third quarter

You didn't jinx it Bloop! Clippers lose at home to Atlanta with Harden, Kawhi, and George all playing. Wolves now hold a 4-game lead over the 4th seed and 5-game lead over the 5th seed.

Thanks to our keeping our head above water with Towns out and some of these klunkers by other teams, we are solidifying a top 3 spot and still in the running for the #1 seed.

Atlanta shot the lights out last night...17 for 34 on threes! Trae Young is an exciting young player, but the announcers hinted at the unthinkable last night...that Atlanta might be a better team without him. I don't think so, but they certainly looked good last night.

The Clippers on the other hand looked terrible last night. For weeks it looked like the top 4 teams in the West were locked in, but now the Pels are hot and just a game behind the Clippers. The Wolves now look most likely to finish 3rd unless they can sweep Denver, so I'm going to update my wins forecast schedule later to get a better idea on who is going to finish 4th through 6th also.

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 8:03 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:44 am

BloopOracle wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:15 pm Hopefully I don't jinx it but Atlanta is currently destroying the clippers at the end of the third quarter

You didn't jinx it Bloop! Clippers lose at home to Atlanta with Harden, Kawhi, and George all playing. Wolves now hold a 4-game lead over the 4th seed and 5-game lead over the 5th seed.

Thanks to our keeping our head above water with Towns out and some of these klunkers by other teams, we are solidifying a top 3 spot and still in the running for the #1 seed.

Atlanta shot the lights out last night...17 for 34 on threes! Trae Young is an exciting young player, but the announcers hinted at the unthinkable last night...that Atlanta might be a better team without him. I don't think so, but they certainly looked good last night.

The Clippers on the other hand looked terrible last night. For weeks it looked like the top 4 teams in the West were locked in, but now the Pels are hot and just a game behind the Clippers. The Wolves now look most likely to finish 3rd unless they can sweep Denver, so I'm going to update my wins forecast schedule later to get a better idea on who is going to finish 4th through 6th also.

I haven't really watched Atlanta much, but statistically it looks like the main issue is on the defensive side of the ball, specifically opponent shooting efficiency and defensive rebounding. That seems odd when you look at their two Centers - Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu - two guys that seem very good defensively. So my guess is that they are very soft as a perimeter defense and Trae Young is part of that problem.

Back to the Clippers...Love seeing them struggle not just because it benefits the Wolves, but because they were such a lazy pick by some of the NBA punditry "elites" to win the West or at least compete with Denver for the crown, while teams like OKC and Minnesota have mostly been ignored as credible threats. Also, fatty-boy James Harden is one of my least favorite players in the league!

Now perhaps the Clippers get their act together and can still make a run, but I'm going to relish in their struggles in the meantime!

Oh, another thing that annoyed the hell out of me: When Kyrie Irving hit that crazy left-handed shot to win the game over Denver, I noticed that Mark Cuban ran onto the court and was in the middle of the player scrum celebrating with them. Show some class and let the players and coaches that are going through the daily grind celebrate together! Congratulate them in the tunnel or after things die down a bit. Sheesh!

With the tiebreaker over the Clippers, If we beat Utah tonight and than go 7-7 the rest of the way, the Clippers would need to go 13-2 to pass us for the 3rd seed.

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2024 8:01 pm

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.

Originally I had us splitting the Utah series. But I recalibrated my model over the remaining games and now have us winning tonight as well as one other game I hadn't been counting as a W.

I've had to recalibrate again, and now I'm projecting 57 wins. I see us losing one of the 4 games at home on the next homestand. Losing both remaining road games against the Nuggets. And then splitting the road trip to the Lakers and Suns. That adds up to a 57-25 record.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:36 pm I've had to recalibrate again, and now I'm projecting 57 wins. I see us losing one of the 4 games at home on the next homestand. Losing both remaining road games against the Nuggets. And then splitting the road trip to the Lakers and Suns. That adds up to a 57-25 record.

I'm still at 54. A win tonight against Denver would be huge, but do you really think we have much of a chance with perhaps every center except Garza out? Especially after playing so many minutes last night and having to travel from Utah while Denver rested in their hotel rooms. There's a good reason Denver is favored by 7 1/2. Nothing is impossible, but this would be a very unlikely win.

FNG wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 5:59 am

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:36 pm I've had to recalibrate again, and now I'm projecting 57 wins. I see us losing one of the 4 games at home on the next homestand. Losing both remaining road games against the Nuggets. And then splitting the road trip to the Lakers and Suns. That adds up to a 57-25 record.

I'm still at 54. A win tonight against Denver would be huge, but do you really think we have much of a chance with perhaps every center except Garza out? Especially after playing so many minutes last night and having to travel from Utah while Denver rested in their hotel rooms. There's a good reason Denver is favored by 7 1/2. Nothing is impossible, but this would be a very unlikely win.

I'm seeing one loss on the homestand. It certainly could come tonight but win or lose, I think we go 3-1.

It's near impossible to win tonight considering all the injuries and back to back travel, etc... I'm just going to call it not possible. Denver should be favored by double digits.

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 11:32 am It's near impossible to win tonight considering all the injuries and back to back travel, etc... I'm just going to call it not possible. Denver should be favored by double digits.

I'm pretty pissed off on how this was all scheduled by the NBA. So we get an off day between games in Utah where no travel was required, but then have to play a back to back where the start time is less than 24 hours from the prior game's tip off (due to losing an hour coming back east) and they have to travel over a 1/3 of the country to get home? I mean, WTF!? We should have played the 2nd Utah game on Sunday instead of Monday.