The Minnesota Timberwolves remained in seventh place in the Western Conference after their 141-124 win over the San Antonio Spurs. However, their 37-29 record tied them with the Golden State Warriors for sixth, placing them only five and a half games behind the second-seeded Denver Nuggets.
There’s still room for the Wolves to move up the Western Conference standings. While the Wolves look like they will finish at least in the top eight of the conference, there are still 16 games left for them to play.
Even though Minnesota’s remaining schedule is the fourth easiest in the entire association, they have not proven they play consistently enough to be a playoff threat. They also still need to get there.
Minnesota lost to bad teams this year, including the early back-to-back in Portland. They also had awful losses to the Washington Wizards, the Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard-less Milwaukee Bucks, and a crunch-time defeat to the Utah Jazz. Still, the Wolves have a respectable record against below .500 teams this season.
The Wolves are 22-9 against sub-.500 teams, a record similar to every team in the West from second to 11th. However, their 15-20 record against teams above .500 has caused them more issues.
NBA standings via espn.com.
Minnesota’s splits against teams above and below .500 bode well for the final run of games. Between now and the final regular season game on April 13, the Wolves face nine teams with a below .500 record. Of the seven teams above .500, the Denver Nuggets are the only contending team they will face.
That gives the Timberwolves a small but possible opportunity to reach 50 wins this season. At 37-29, it would require Minnesota to go 13-3 down the stretch to win 50 games, one of the marks of a bona fide contender.
In all likelihood, that would require winning all nine of their games against below .500 opposition, plus going 4-3 in their seven games against teams above .500. That means four wins in the two Denver games, two games against the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks, and Memphis Grizzlies.
It would require them to discover a form that would make people consider them an outside threat to the NBA title, if not perhaps one of the frontrunners. Only three teams have won the NBA Championship with less than 50 regular-season wins since the league expanded to 82 games. The most recent team was the 1994-95 Houston Rockets, who won the title with a 47-35 record in the Western Conference.
Even with 50 wins, Minnesota might finish slightly ahead of the play-in. In that case, they’d have to win every game they can to get home-court advantage. However, they must play better at the beginning and end of games to go on a run.
Of course, they are now 10-0 in the last 10 games that Julius Randle has played in, and it looks like they might have finally figured out their slightly post-Karl-Anthony Towns roster. They are using Randle more as a playmaker than a scorer, and Donte DiVincenzo is providing a sharp shooting boost from the bench.
Jaden McDaniels appears to have developed as a genuine rim protector and scoring option. Mike Conley’s recent renaissance also has given fans more faith that his career’s ending might be a little further away than it looked early in the season. Ultimately, some of their biggest issues appear to have solved themselves, at least to some degree.
In one sense, it would be helpful to see whether the recent developments in team synergy can hold out against the best teams in the league. We will certainly get a taste of that on Wednesday in Denver. It will also be informative to see whether they can deal with the other good teams remaining on their schedule.
Minnesota’s roster must win as many games as possible and end the season feeling like they can win in the playoffs. Given the dogfight in the middle of the Western Conference, the Wolves cannot take a single game for granted. If they stay focused, there might be a route to 50 wins – and genuine NBA contender status.