The Home Stretch - The Final 23 Games

[Lipoli390]

We are two games away from the allstar break and 23 games away from the end of the season. Trying to predict how the Wolves finish in this final stretch is difficult. It shouldn't be this difficult, but I just don't have a good sense of this team. The Wolves had a great stretch before tonight of dominating at home against every team except the Eastern Conference's best team, Toronto, but still beating them by 6 points. But even though the Wolves won at home tonight, they barely beat the Western Conference's worst team. And in the midst of this great home winning streak the past few weeks, the Wolves have lost on the road to the Nets, Magic and Hawks. Tonight's squeaker over the Kings was too reminiscent of prior unacceptable home losses earlier this season to the Wizards without Wall, the Suns without Booker and the Sixers without Covington. But we did win this one.

So here we are with 35 wins - 11 games over .500 with 23 games to go. If we're the team I think we should be, then I see this team winning 15 of the final 23 games and finishing with 50 wins. That will likely keep us no worse than 4th in the West with a good chance of finishing 3rd. But if we continue to be the team we've seen recently on the road, then unfortunately I don't see this team winning more than 11 more games in which case we will end up with around 45 wins and a 5th or 6th place finish.

The difference will be whether we can find a way to win at least one of our two remaining home games against the Rockets or our one remaining home game against the Warriors while also getting road wins against the Sixers, Knicks, Wizards, Lakers and Mavs. We absolutely should beat the Mavs and Knicks. The other three will be tougher, but those games will really test whether this team is ready to hold its ground in the standings and possibly win a first round playoff series.

The Wolves can really set the tone by winning these next two home games against the Rockets and Lakers. If the Wolves play the way they did the past three games, they will lose both of them.

[thedoper]

Their play on the road has been brutal. I think the all star break will help as I think the immaturity of our team with Towns and Wiggins as major contributors has caused a mid season malaise. I see us in between 48 wins which is still a bit of a bummer based on where we were at our peak this year. I really don't see us getting through OKC but all in all this season has been great.

[Leado01]

Why are we calling up Justin Patton?

We need some kind of minor shake up if we come out of the ASB as flat as we are going into it (more Tyus?) especially on the D end, but Patton? I hope we aren't planning on giving up any of  Belly's minutes

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The G-League is on an extended break, so the call-up allows Patton to practice with the big boys. I like how we are handling Patton so far. Lots of reps in the G-League interspersed with the occasional call-up to get some practice in with the big league club. I doubt he sees any minutes unless it's pure garbage time.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Lip, I don't see us winning 15 of 23. I think we'll be lucky to win half our remaining games based on how our defense has regressed once again. BUT....that should be good enough to get into the playoffs. That will be a huge monkey of this franchise's back.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Man, there's some bad energy surrounding the Wolves on this board lately. Feels like everyone is pessimistic about them.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Man, there's some bad energy surrounding the Wolves on this board lately. Feels like everyone is pessimistic about them.

We're 6-8 in our last 14 games and continue to lose to some of the worst teams in the league on the road. This is despite being quite healthy.

It's not really pessimistic for me since I had us winning 43 games this season! Anything over that is above my original expectations!

[kekgeek]

The G-League is on an extended break, so the call-up allows Patton to practice with the big boys. I like how we are handling Patton so far. Lots of reps in the G-League interspersed with the occasional call-up to get some practice in with the big league club. I doubt he sees any minutes unless it's pure garbage time.

They are also calling up anthony brown and Jefferson. They had travel problems so they won't be able to practice today.


Also thibs said Patton hasn't been medically cleared to play in a NBA game yet and is on a minute restriction in the G League

[Big O [enjin:13874644]]

Looking at the loss column and records in the last 10 games, the playoff spots in the west are clearly up for grabs. The Spurs, Wolves and Thunder have all been losing. While the Jazz, Clippers, Nuggets and Blazers are playing well and are within a game or two of home court. If the Wolves keep losing 6 out of 10 games we could be facing the Warriors or Rockets in the playoffs and be done in four games...

[Lipoli390]

Looking at the loss column and records in the last 10 games, the playoff spots in the west are clearly up for grabs. The Spurs, Wolves and Thunder have all been losing. While the Jazz, Clippers, Nuggets and Blazers are playing well and are within a game or two of home court. If the Wolves keep losing 6 out of 10 games we could be facing the Warriors or Rockets in the playoffs and be done in four games...

Good point. The Blazers are coming together. They were really impressive against the Warriors last night. The Nuggets are red hot and Millsap hasn't even returned yet. The Pelicans are holding up remarkably well since Cousins went down. They're only 3 games behind us in spite of all the injury issues they've had this season. The Thunder are only a game behind us.

Looking at the field, I think the Thunder will definitely pass us in the standings by the end of the season. If I had to bet, I'd bet that the Blazers and Nuggets also pass us in the standings. We have a chance to finish 3rd, but it's more likely we end up 6th or 7th. We need to at least finish 6th to have a chance at a first round playoff win because finishing 7th or 8th pits us against the Warriors or Rockets.