The Western Conference has been completely unpredictable. The Memphis Grizzlies are third in the conference, the ever-stable Utah Jazz are in a tailspin, and Andrew Wiggins is an All-Star starter. This season feels like a storyline from the NBA Twilight Zone fan fiction I’ve been writing. More on that later.
Stranger yet, the Minnesota Timberwolves have found themselves entrenched in the play-in race. This is unfamiliar territory for the Wolves. They are joined in the middle class of the NBA by three teams that may also be in unfamiliar territory, but for much different reasons: the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, and Portland Trail Blazers. I fear that if the Wolves can’t make it out of the play-in, they may not make the playoffs.
We are about a year and a half removed from the Lakers winning the championship. It also doesn’t feel like that long ago that Damian Lillard was waving goodbye to Paul George and Russell Westbrook en route to the 2019 Western Conference finals. Now, both George and Westbrook have joined Dame in waters of mediocrity as the Blazers, Clippers, and Lakers try to wade their way toward the 2022 playoffs.
For those teams, the playoffs are commonplace. Being stuck in the play-in for each is a varying degree of disaster. Whether it be LeBron’s ticking clock, Dame’s willingness to stay in Portland, or whatever the heck goes on in Kawhi Leonard’s mind, all three teams have a limited window and plenty of pressure to win now.
The Wolves are new to the party. They are young, energetic, and bursting with potential. It’s yet to be seen whether the Wolves can hack it with the best of the west. The Blazers, Lakers, and Clippers don’t look like the best right now. But in many ways, they are closer than they appear.
The Wolves would face the Lakers in the play-in tournament to begin today. So far this season, Minnesota has played the Lakers well, which is a reason for optimism. But they’ll be facing LeBron James and the Lakers in a win-or-go-home scenario. Granted, LA has been struggling, and James is not quite the unstoppable force he once was. Still, the Lakers are 5-1 in overtime this season, which tells me they’re not a team that will fold under pressure.
The Wolves took care of business handily in their most recent face-off against the Clippers, with a 122-104 victory on Jan. 3. However, that was a game during the heart of the COVID wave that rocked the NBA. The Clippers were forced to play their scrubs. Well, they played at least one Scrubb.
Minnesota faced the Clippers three times in November, and they lost by a total of 58 points. LA is a much more dangerous opponent with Paul George in the lineup. Not only is there a chance that George will be healthy come playoff time, but there seems to be a significant likelihood that Leonard could make his return before season’s end. On a recent Twitch stream with the First Team, Nic Batum dropped a hint about both PG’s and Leonard’s return:
“We hope that after the All-Star break or early March, they will come back,” he said. “Before leaving for the trip Tuesday morning, I went to do my COIVD test and went to the gym, and I saw Kawhi sweating, working out. He’s trying to come back. I don’t know if it will be this year, I am hoping so, but I don’t know.”
If their two superstars return, the Clippers will vault from play-in fodder to a title contender.
Then there is the Blazers. If there is any team that the Wolves would want to meet in the playoffs, it’s them. It’s been a challenging year in Portland. They fired their GM, lost Dame to injury, and CJ McCollum had a collapsed lung. Lillard’s timetable for return is murky, but it looks like he’ll be out until at least mid-march. Until then, the Blazers will have to cobble together enough wins to maintain their position in the play-in. But when Lillard returns, there are not too many players I’d pick above him to compete in a win-or-go-home scenario.
Lately, the Wolves have lost ground on the 6th seed to the Denver Nuggets and the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks. For much of the season, the separation between Denver, Dallas, and the rest of the pack was slim. Both Dallas and Denver have gone 7-3 over the last 10 games, giving themselves a bit of breathing room. If the Wolves can put together a quality stretch of wins, there is still a chance they can make up the 3.5 games they are behind the Nuggets.
It certainly helps that Utah is flying down the standings. But ultimately, it’s on the Wolves to string together a quality run to end the season. The Wolves have the 23rd-easiest remaining schedule, according to Tankathon. They’ve got to take advantage of the easy-to-reach sixth seed. Otherwise, they’ll have to beat some all-time great players in a win-or-go-home play-in game.
