It Was a Good Weekend for the T-Wolves Tank

I wrote about it as the weekend was unfolding. After a couple of wins last week, the Timberwolves had put themselves in the middle of a pack of rabid tankers. They were in serious jeopardy of falling from the #2 spot in April’s NBA Draft Lottery, all the way down to #8 or worse, if the winning continued.

Luckily, it didn’t. The Wolves have now lost two straight games (Fri vs ORL | Sun vs NO) and looked terrible in both. Meanwhile, the teams around them were pulling superman upsets to help the cause. Timberwolves fans couldn’t have asked for the weekend to go much better.

Saturday:

• The Hornets def. the Rockets
• The Cavaliers def. the Nuggets…
• The Warriors def. the 76ers

Sunday:

The Wolves jumped back up to the #4 spot in the lottery (top-3 have same 14% chance at #1 pick) and could jump into a tie for 3rd, if Atlanta can beat Charlotte tonight. Both teams are bad so this is another win/win matchup but a Hawks win would be preferable.

The Timberwolves are off tonight, but will return tomorrow, to play a struggling Houston Rockets team. Harden, Westbrook & Co. have lost 4-straight and those losses include games to the Hornets and Knicks. Yikes…

Hopefully we can set them straight. Then tomorrow, while the Wolves are getting the Rockets back on track, we have multiple “win/win” games playing out simultaneously (preferred winners in bold).

• Knicks (6) @ Wizards (9)
• Cavaliers (3) @ Bulls (7)

Those are the only “win/win” games happening tomorrow but all teams battling for the bottom-3 will be in action. Any other wins from bottom teams, would be bonus chips to rake in. All the Timberwolves can do, is their part. Make sure you take the “L” vs the Rockets and let the other chips fall where they may.

As long as we do that, we could very-well find ourselves back in the top-3, with the best chance in the league, at snagging the #1 pick.

With the move back up to #4, the Wolves have extended their lead in the NBA Draft Power Rankings, from 20 points to 25 points. Tankathon.com has the Wolves with 130.07 PTS. The Warriors are in second with 105.71. Keeping the Nets in the playoffs so we secure their 2020 first round pick is so massive to the offseason plans, it makes all of the unrest in Brooklyn nerve racking…

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan