PLAY OFF Watch!

[Klomp]

Another interesting stat to look at:

In the first 34 games of his first season as head coach of the Sacramento Kings, Rick Adelman started out 15-19 in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. They finished the season by winning 12 of the final 16 games, ending up with the 6th seed in the West.

[Dalvin]

Hope we finish as a 7th seed. So we can match up with SA on the first round. Upset in the making!

And also, I hope HOU and DAL finishes between 3rd to 6th seed wherein HOU or DAL finishes their 1st round opponent. Then we meet in them in the 2nd round! Another good match up for us!

And lastly, whichever one of HOU and DAL that finishes in the other side of the bracket gets to the Western Conference Finals.

There you are, our way to the Finals! LOL

I can dream, can I?

[Grits n Gravy]

man i'm just hoping klove manages to get some rest at the all star break....dude looked absolutely shot the last 2 games, especially this last one against utah. i think we will falter down the stretch but it's not inconcievable for kobe, pau, kyle lowry, luis scola, mike conley, rudy gay, lemarcus alridge and gerald wallace all to go down with season ending injury's in the first week back after all star weekend.

[Biff Cooper]

Thanks for breaking that down, Klomp.

I think the biggest thing is that we only play 4 games against Eastern conference teams...We could really use more games against Eastern teams, but if we want to make the playoffs it shouldn't matter.

I was thinking the same thing, but looking back on the first half of the season, we are only 5-9 against the east and 12-8 against the west. Maybe we are better off staying away from the east.

[phonzadellika]

My bold prediction:

Malcolm Lee is everything we dream about (almost) and ends up starting as the 2-guard. Our perimeter defense between Rubio/Lee/Johnson is top in the league. Johnson and Lee's offense is just good enough to not be a complete and utter liability. We barely squeak into the playoffs.

[Twolves1Fan]

I would love nothing more than for our TWolves to get into the playoffs. What a learning experience that would be. We might be too young and inexperienced to do much damage but I promise that we'd be a 'tough out'. If we could get a taste of the playoffs this year, watch out for next season!

Gotta get that SG problem fixed though.

[Basti]

Thanks for breaking that down, Klomp.

I think the biggest thing is that we only play 4 games against Eastern conference teams...We could really use more games against Eastern teams, but if we want to make the playoffs it shouldn't matter.

BTW those four games are @ CHA, vs BOS, @ IND, and @ DET.

Facing Indiana on their court will be the toughest game, I think. Boston can be beat by any team these days but they can also beat any team. You can't predict anything there. Detroit has been playing much better recently so I'm not sure about this one. Charlotte shouldn't be much of a problem (theoretically).

I'd predict either we split the 4 games or win 3 of 4.

[Klomp]

Even though most everyone here has seemingly given up on our playoff chances, I'll update this post anyways.


5. Los Angeles Clippers (23-17) - 2 games ahead
6. Denver Nuggets (23-19) - 1 game ahead
7. Dallas Mavericks (23-20) - 0.5 games ahead
8. Houston Rockets (22-20) -
---------------------------------------------------
9. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (22-21) 0.5 games back
T10. Utah Jazz (20-21) 1.5 games back
T10. Portland Trail Blazers (20-21) 1.5 games back
12. Phoenix Suns (19-22) - 2.5 games behind
13. Golden State Warriors (17-21) - 3 games behind



Upcoming Schedule
3/15 at Utah Jazz
3/16 at Los Angeles Lakers (25-16, 3rd seed)
3/18 at Sacramento Kings
3/19 at Golden State Warriors
3/21 at San Antonio Spurs (27-13, 2nd seed)
3/23 at Oklahoma City Thunder (32-19, 1st seed)

[Saltine]

Considering that Houston just lost Lowry for two to four weeks with a bacterial infection and now needs to play Jonny Flynn, we still have a shot

[karch34]

Houston also has Thunder and Clippers in their next 3 games. Utah is playing Wed at Phx, so that's favorable for us. Think we'll go at least 4-3 on this trip and be in it to the end.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Considering that Houston just lost Lowry for two to four weeks with a bacterial infection and now needs to play Jonny Flynn, we still have a shoot

what kind of bacterial infection

[Foye]

Considering that Houston just lost Lowry for two to four weeks with a bacterial infection and now needs to play Jonny Flynn, we still have a shot

[Klomp]

How did the deadline moves change things?

T4. Los Angeles Clippers (24-17) - 1.5 games ahead
T4. Memphis Grizzlies (24-17) - 1.5 games ahead
6. Denver Nuggets (24-19) - 0.5 game ahead
T7. Dallas Mavericks (24-20) -
T7. Houston Rockets (24-20) -
---------------------------------------------------
9. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (22-21) 1.5 games back
T10. Utah Jazz (20-22) 3 games back
T10. Phoenix Suns (20-22) - 3 games behind
12. Portland Trail Blazers (20-23) 3.5 games back
13. Golden State Warriors (18-22) - 4 games behind


Upcoming Schedule
3/15 at Utah Jazz
3/16 at Los Angeles Lakers (27-16, 3rd seed)
3/18 at Sacramento Kings
3/19 at Golden State Warriors
3/21 at San Antonio Spurs (28-13, 2nd seed)
3/23 at Oklahoma City Thunder (32-10, 1st seed)

[moss_is_1]

I think it's going to be tough for Houston to not make it now that they added Camby, and then have Fisher instead of Flynn. Denver could slip now that they have McGee there, but Nene didn't play a whole lot before so I'd have to think that McGee will play better then Koufos or Mozgov were.

[eyeteeth]

Yeah, competition for the 6, 7 and 8 seeds just got significantly tougher. Especially since the 8th seed is just a punching bag for OKC... I'd say our road just got tougher.

[Hambone93]

this loss just made our journey significantly tougher.

[Breakdown777]

The Wolves are effectively watching the playoffs through binoculars.

And I don't need anybody attacking me for being negative. I've had to sit through horrible Wolves teams for a good long while. I know what a bad team looks like.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, the West is basically divided into:
A - Playoffs (OKC,LA,LA,DAL,SA,MEM)
B - Fighting for Playoffs (DEN,HOU,UTH,MN,PHX)
C - Horrible (SAC, NO)
D - Tanking (POR, GS)

I'd put the Wolves at the bottom of tier B, as we will not be tanking because there is no reason to, placing us at the 11th best team in the West.
I'm guessing the Wolves get 5 to 7 more wins this season, depending on how many teams go into full on tank mode . That means we'll finish with a record of about 28-38. That's still a huge improvement over last year. At the start of the season, I was expecting us to finish as the 10th best team in the West, and saw that as a sign of going in the right direction. Let's not get carried away with playoff hopes. It takes a long time to build a contender, and I'm more interested in being a top 4 team in the West than squeaking into the playoffs right away. There's no reason for all of this backlash on the posters who are thinking the playoffs aren't an option. Some of us have been around too long to really believe the playoffs are still reachable (or even that important this year).

[Montenegrin]

Dallas has a very tough schedule,they are definitely not certain for the play offs.

[Basti]

The rest of the road trip will tell us if we still have a shot at making the playoffs. If we manage to get two more wins we still have an outside shot but right now I'm not sure how likely that is.

[Krapinsky]

The rest of the road trip will tell us if we still have a shot at making the playoffs. If we manage to get two more wins we still have an outside shot but right now I'm not sure how likely that is.

We could get a win tonight, I realize it's a back to back on the road, but LAL might be a bit shellshocked from the Fisher trade and could be a little exhausted after a long road trip with a few OT games.