The Wolves were hoping for Clippers and Nuggets losses on Tuesday night. If that had happened, the Wolves would have been in position to clinch a playoff spot on Thursday with a win over the Nuggets.
Well, um, that didn’t happen.
The good news is that the Wolves, with four games remaining, can clinch as early as Friday if they beat the Nuggets and Lakers in back-to-back road games.
Let’s break down what went down in the West last night.
Durant & Thompson Lead Warriors Over Thunder
The Warriors have three of their big four healthy. Steph Curry will be out until at least the first round of the playoffs, but on Tuesday night, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson were enough for the Warriors to come away with a 111-107 road win over the Thunder. Durant finished with 34 points and 10 rebounds while Thompson added 20 points and three steals.
For the Thunder, things aren’t trending in the right direction. They’ve lost four of their last five. On Tuesday night, Carmelo Anthony shot a dreadful 0-for-9 from the 3-point line. Melo is averaging just 16.2 points per game in OKC and he’s shooting a career-low 40.3 percent from the field. This experiment doesn’t appear to be going great for the 33-year-old forward.
With the loss, OKC falls to 45-34, sixth in the West and just a half game above the Wolves. Minnesota has the 3-1 season-series tiebreaker over the Thunder.
It doesn’t get easier for OKC. On Saturday, they travel to play the Rockets in Houston before closing the season at Miami and against Memphis at home.
Denver Continues To Claw
The Nuggets are making these last two games against the Wolves in the next week two of the most-important games of the season.
Denver beat Indiana 107-104 behind a combined 56 points, 16 rebounds, 12 assists and six steals from Nikola Jokic and Will Barton.
The Nuggets have won their last three games by an average of 2.3 points, all vs. playoff teams.
The win puts Denver at 43-35, ninth in the West, just a half game back from the eighth seed and one game back from the Wolves at seven.
Denver and Minnesota face off on Thursday night at 9:30 at the Pepsi Center.
It’s the biggest game of the season for both teams.
Utah Stays Hot
The Jazz won their fourth out of five last night in a 117-110 W over the Lakers at home.
Former Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio led the way with 31 points, eight assists and six rebounds while shooting 4-for-7 from the 3-point line.
Remember when the Jazz were in 10th and were praying for a playoff appearance?
Well, well, well. How things have changed.
The win moved Utah to 45-33, fourth in the West. There are just two games separating Utah from fourth and ninth, though, so plenty could change.
Utah ends the season vs. the Clippers, at the Lakers, vs. the Warriors and at the Blazers.
Clippers Keep Playoff Hopes Alive, Kind Of Help Wolves
As a Wolves fan, you could have gone into this game thinking two things: Clippers, please lose. Another team out of the playoff race increases the Wolves’ odds to make it. The second, though, though, was that a Clippers win would move the Wolves within just a game of the Spurs for the fifth seed.
The Clippers won 113-110 after outscoring the Spurs 41-27 in the fourth quarter. Tobias Harris led LA with 31 points and nine rebounds.
The win moves LA to 42-36, still 10th in the West and 1.5 games back from the eighth seed and two games back from the Wolves.
The Clippers end the season at Utah, vs. Denver, vs. New Orleans and vs. the Lakers.
The Spurs fall to 45-33, a game up from the Wolves in fifth place.
The Wolves have the tiebreaker over the Clippers. The Spurs have the tiebreaker over the Wolves.
San Antonio ends the season at the Lakers, vs. Portland, vs. Sacramento and at New Orleans.
We’ll preview tonight’s games later today.