Every night of the final 17 days of the regular season will be significant in the NBA, but Wednesday night is the newest, biggest night of action as seven teams within 1.5 games of each other in the standings fight for a spot in the playoffs.
Specifically, there are four games that could result in the jumbled back half of the West race to shuffle.
- 6:30 p.m. – Golden State Warriors at Dallas Mavericks
- 7 p.m. – Atlanta Hawks at Minnesota Timberwolves
- 8 p.m. – Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz
- 9 p.m. – Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers
Here’s how things could shake out for the Timberwolves:
- Wolves win + Warriors loss + Mavericks win = 7th place
- Wolves win + Warriors win + Mavericks loss = 7th place
- Wolves loss + Jazz win + Lakers win = 11th place
- Wolves loss + Jazz win + Lakers loss = 10th place
- Wolves loss + Lakers win + Jazz loss = 10th place
The bottom line for Minnesota is that any loss at this point in the season is difficult to overcome. Tonight’s game is even more imperative to win because the Timberwolves are about to embark on a road trip with stops at Golden State, Sacramento and Phoenix.
A win over the Hawks coupled with a Warriors loss in Dallas would put Minnesota in a tie with the Warriors, though Golden State would own the tiebreaker pending Sunday’s outcome between the two.
Even more important is that a win at least keeps Minnesota within a game of the sixth seed, which is critical because the top six seeds are playoff locks and don’t have to risk it all in the play-in tournament.
