The top two teams in the Western Conference are set to tip off at Target Center Tuesday night but for the home side there’s more at stake than just keeping control of the No. 1 seed in the West because the Minnesota Timberwolves still have a path to qualifying for the knockout rounds of the inaugural In-Season Tournament.
It’s the final night of the Group Play stage and the Wolves host the Oklahoma City Thunder with a chance, albeit small, to qualify for the knockout rounds.
To quickly recap the qualifying scenarios, teams that finish atop their respective groups (there are six groups) and a wild card team from each conference advance to the knockout rounds. The wild card team is the second-place team that finishes with the best record in group play, and it gets extremely confusing because the tiebreaker is points differential.
WESTERN CONFERENCE KNOCKOUT ROUND SCENARIOS… entering the final day of Group Play on 11/28!
GOLDEN STATE clinches Group C if one of the following occurs:
1) GSW victory + MIN loss
2) GSW victory + GSW wins tiebreaker over SAC and MIN
GOLDEN STATE clinches Wildcard if the… pic.twitter.com/G1vKQQt0HX
— NBA (@NBA) November 27, 2023
So where do the Wolves stand heading into Tuesday night’s game with the Thunder. Minnesota is currently in second place in West Group C with a 2-1 record. Here’s what needs to happen to advance to the knockout rounds.
Minnesota clinches Group C with…
- MIN victory + SAC loss + MIN wins tiebreaker over SAC and GSW
Minnesota clinches the wild card with…
- MIN victory and finishes second in group and wins tiebreaker over any second-place teams from other groups with a 3-1 record
That’s the simple version. It gets crazy when you consider points differential. Currently, the Wolves have a -3 point differential while the Kings are +29 and the Warriors are +5.
It gets even more difficult because the Kings play the Warriors AFTER the Wolves play the Thunder, so Minnesota will just have to hope for a blowout and then see what happens.
The wild card scenario is even more difficult because the Suns are +34 in point differential. Houston is also still in the mix for a wild card and they have a +16 point differential.
All in all, good luck to the Timberwolves because they’re going to need it.
