Playoffs discussion

[FNG]

As I try to stay upbeat after the turd our guys laid last night, I predict that we flip the switch on the Pacers and beat them on their court next week for an anti-klunker. And then if Denver can take care of GS and Milwaukee can beat Houston, we'll be sitting by ourselves in 5th on my forecast in a week. But that's a lot to ask for, and first we have to take care of business by beating the Pelicans twice...not an easy task. Sure would have been better had we held serve last night though.

You're still angling for that #5 seed... KOM still shows the Wolves with a 2-game lead for the #6 seed, but #5 is still a reach.

I'm just not as down as everyone else on that Pacer loss. Yeah, we had a lot of problems, starting with that 1st half effort, and our poor crunch time execution. But what an incredible shooting night from the Pacers! And even with that rare kind of shooting, the game still went to OT. And the incredible shot by Toppin to win it at the end of OT?!?
Yeah, we have stuff to address, but ya gotta tip your hat to the Pacers and say "good luck doing it next time".

Warriors get the Bucks tonight after their deflating loss last night. KOM says the Warriors should win, so we are on klunker alert. Which, by the way, would vault the Wolves in to the 6th spot!

Yeah, I also have the Warriors winning tonight, so a Bucks win puts us in 6th place in my forecast also. And surprisingly, the Bucks are favored by 2 1/2...go Bucks!

And I'm far from giving up on 5th place. Houston finishes the season with OkC, a tough road trip to face the Lakers, Clippers and Warriors, and then Denver...brutal! And with Ja out, I'm not even giving up on passing Memphis for 4th place. A loss tonight in Portland would be a second consecutive klunker for them, and leave them at a projected 49 wins...just one game ahead of us. It's still a horse race!

As we get closer to the finish line, we should start another thread about who we want to face in the playoffs. It might depend a lot on who is healthy, but it will be a good discussion. Right now we would be favored against none of the top 4 teams, but I'm not really afraid of any of them.

[60WinTim]

Memphis has had 7 klunkers and 0 anti-klunkers since the all-star break... That's even worse than the Mavericks!

So, I an close to dropping them out of the KOM top tier. It looks like Ja is day-to-day. Is it worse than that?

[FNG]

Memphis has had 7 klunkers and 0 anti-klunkers since the all-star break... That's even worse than the Mavericks!

So, I an close to dropping them out of the KOM top tier. It looks like Ja is day-to-day. Is it worse than that?

Yeah, day to day with a shoulder. But he's fragile, and the Griz have not been very good recently with both him and JJ banged up. They may continue to struggle.

[60WinTim]

Dang! Not a good night for the playoffs. Warriors beat the Bucks without Curry, and the Clippers are earning an anti-klunker against the Cavs.

[FNG]

Dang! Not a good night for the playoffs. Warriors beat the Bucks without Curry, and the Clippers are earning an anti-klunker against the Cavs.

Yeah, two bad results. Giannis and Lillard go 11 for 34 to lose to Golden State without Curry (hmm...but how bad is Curry's back?) and Mitchell and Garland go 11 for 32 to give the Clips an anti-klunker. A couple days ago our Wolves had a nice 3-game cushion over the Clips for 8th place, but now it's down to 1. Looks like they're not going away.

[Q-is-here]

I'm not giving up hope, but seeing the same old shit, especially from Ant, in crunch time gave me PTSD. Makes me question where this team is really at. And why is it that some average-at-best opposing player just Can. Not. Miss. in these situations!? Kyle Kuzma was just lights out making every big shot when we lost to Washington! This time it was Obi Toppin, a 33% shooter from 3 this season. Sheesh!

[FNG]

I'm not giving up hope, but seeing the same old shit, especially from Ant, in crunch time gave me PTSD. Makes me question where this team is really at. And why is it that some average-at-best opposing player just Can. Not. Miss. in these situations!? Kyle Kuzma was just lights out making every big shot when we lost to Washington! This time it was Obi Toppin, a 33% shooter from 3 this season. Sheesh!

And yet even more crunch time PTSD courtesy of Ant.

After throwing things at the TV screen last night, I actually woke up this morning with a sense of relief. Two consecutive losses to double digit underdogs have removed any playoff placement drama. We are now tied with the Clippers for 7th at a paltry 47 projected wins...we have the tiebreaker on them, but a playin game followed by a potential series against the Lakers doesn't sound very good right now. What a terrible week following an 8-game win streak.

[Q-is-here]

I'm not giving up hope, but seeing the same old shit, especially from Ant, in crunch time gave me PTSD. Makes me question where this team is really at. And why is it that some average-at-best opposing player just Can. Not. Miss. in these situations!? Kyle Kuzma was just lights out making every big shot when we lost to Washington! This time it was Obi Toppin, a 33% shooter from 3 this season. Sheesh!

And yet even more crunch time PTSD courtesy of Ant.

After throwing things at the TV screen last night, I actually woke up this morning with a sense of relief. Two consecutive losses to double digit underdogs have removed any playoff placement drama. We are now tied with the Clippers for 7th at a paltry 47 projected wins...we have the tiebreaker on them, but a playin game followed by a potential series against the Lakers doesn't sound very good right now. What a terrible week following an 8-game win streak.

It's a collective choke though, with Ant at the tip of the spear. Look at the FTAs missed in the final 5 minutes!

Donte 1-2
Ant 1-2
Randle 1-2
Naz 1-2

These are four of our best players and all four made only 1 of 2 FTAs in crunch time. I mean, I can see that happening to Rudy, but all four of these guys!?

Additionally, we successfully checked off the "guy that makes a bunch of 3-pointers against the Wolves that otherwise can't shoot" in Bruce Brown, as Kekgeek pointed out. He goes 4-7 from 3 against us. In the prior 14 games he played in, he made a total of four three-pointers! He does that in one game against us! He's shooting 29% on the year.

That's not to blame shooting variance and bad luck for our woes, as I believe you make your own luck. It starts with taking these teams seriously and giving effort from the tip. The most offensive thing to me is how they do this in front of their home court fans that pay good money to be there. Washington, Milwaukee, Indiana, and now New Orleans. It's shameful!

[FNG]

The Curry injury thickens the plot a little. A Warriors loss today in Atlanta combined with a Wolves upset win in Indy Monday would put us back ahead of the Warriors for 6th in my projection. I'm still predicting the 7th place Wolves hosting a play in game against the Clippers, but a 6th place finish would be preferable.

[60WinTim]

Brandon Clarke out for the season with a PCL sprain. The Griz have already been falling off the edge of a cliff. But a lot of things would have to break our way for the Wolves to actually catch the Griz...