Sunday’s blowout loss to Ricky Rubio and the Jazz knocked the Wolves from 5th to 7th in the playoff race and in a position of vulnerability with the Nuggets breathing down their neck.
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Minnesota also has to worry about the Pelicans, but it’s the Nuggets that are cause for concern considering they now control their own destiny after back-to-back overtime wins against the Thunder and Bucks.
The Wolves are 1.5 games ahead of Denver, but two of their final four games are head-to-head, and if Denver wins both the end result could lead to a playoff-less season for a 14th straight year.
PlayoffStatus.com puts the odds of it happening at just 5 percent, but in a scenario where the Wolves finish 46-36 (or worse) it’s possible. Here’s the two things that would need to happen in such a scenario.
– Denver beats Minnesota twice and wins two additional games to finish 47-35, or they beat the Wolves twice and beat Portland next Monday to finish 46-36. In the second scenario they would win the tiebreaker over Minnesota based on a better record within the division.
This would also be required to knock the Wolves from the playoffs.
– New Orleans wins four of its last five games (Grizzlies, Suns, Warriors, Clippers, Spurs) to finish 47-35. A tie with Minnesota isn’t good enough because they went 0-4 against the Wolves this season.
The Clippers cannot catch the Wolves if the Wolves reach 46 wins.
So, yeah, the Wolves are still in a pretty good position.
Wolves remaining schedule:
- Thursday, at Nuggets
- Friday, at Lakers
- Monday, vs. Grizzlies
- Wednesday, vs. Nuggets
Nuggets remaining schedule:
- Tuesday, vs. Pacers
- Thursday, vs. Wolves
- Saturday, at Clippers
- Monday, vs. Blazers
- Wednesday, at Wolves
On the flip side, the Wolves are only 1.5 games behind the 4th-place Spurs, although catching them seems less likely even if the Wolves go 4-0 down the stretch to finish 48-34.
