The Minnesota Timberwolves were “supposed” to win 50 games this season, at least in the minds of some. While that was almost always couched in the fact that it was optimistic, the notion that Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Tom Thibodeau would lead Minnesota to a renaissance-level season was out there. Naturally it never came to fruition.
The Wolves have floundered in the wilderness for much of the season, falling as much as 15 games under .500 during the year. However, there are real signs of life in the Twin Cities, to the point where Minnesota is actually a darkhorse playoff contender and a team playing its best basketball of the 2016-2017 campaign at the ideal time.
Over the past 10 games, Thibodeau’s team is 7-3 with a dynamic +9.5 net rating, and that brings the Wolves within just 3.5 games of the Denver Nuggets for the No. 8 seed. While actually reaching the playoffs should be a secondary concern given what would almost certainly be a quick, first-round exit, the fact that Minnesota is playing this well should not go unnoticed, especially when considering the Wolves sport a superior net rating (+0.5) for the full season than the Hawks, Nuggets, Pistons, Pacers, and Thunder.
In other words, this is a good basketball team that hasn’t learned how to finish just yet. For further evidence, Minnesota is just 13-22 in games that include “clutch” situations (as defined by NBA.com), and that’s the mark of young team that just doesn’t know what it is doing down the stretch. Recently, though, the Wolves have cleaned things up, and that could be a (very) positive indicator moving forward.
Having a full-fledged budding star in Towns is a very nice thing and Wiggins has flashed a bit of an all-court game in recent days that would better serve him on his path to individual stardom. Make no mistake, the Wolves need something of a talent infusion without Zach LaVine (who is out for the season) in the lineup, but with another year of maturation, perhaps the 2017-2018 Wolves can live up to the lofty expectations put forth for the team one year too early.
Where do the Wolves stack up with the rest of the league in mid-March? Let’s find out with this week’s NBA Power Rankings.
1. San Antonio Spurs (52-14, Last week — 2nd)
We have a new No. 1 for the first time in a long time. LaMarcus Aldridge is out indefinitely with a scary heart issue and that is highly unfortunate. With that said, the Spurs have won 11 of 12 as Kawhi Leonard has ascended yet another level to the point where he is garnering legitimate MVP talk. San Antonio might not last long in the top spot based on what their primary challenger might do, but this is a very worthy No. 1 by any measure.
2. Golden State Warriors (53-14, Last week — 1st)
All is not well in Golden State at the moment. The Warriors lost three straight before Tuesday, and while they did rise up to defeat the Sixers, a two-point victory over Philly at home isn’t something to reward. I’m not actually worried about the Warriors long-term but they aren’t operating like the best team in the league right now.
3. Houston Rockets (46-21, Last week — 4th)
It should probably garner more attention that the Rockets sport a league-average defense. That doesn’t sound like much but preseason expectations had Houston facing a potentially wretched set of circumstances on that end of the floor and it hasn’t been ugly in the slightest. The Rockets are also awesome offensively and that helps but they need to be passable defensively and they’ve achieved that with flying colors.
4. Cleveland Cavaliers (44-22, Last week — 3rd)
The Cavs absolutely throttled the Pistons on Tuesday, but we can’t ignore what transpired before that. Cleveland lost four of five and, perhaps most importantly for the purpose of this ranking, one of those losses came to the Rockets. With a gun to my head, the Cavs are still better than the Rockets but there has to be some room for movement here. (*This is all subject to change when they get Kyle Korver and Kevin Love back.)
5. Utah Jazz (42-25, Last week — 5th)
The Jazz are cooking a little bit after winning five of six. The lone blemish was defensible in that it came on the road in OKC and, for the most part, Utah at full strength has been highly impressive this season. Until they make a dent in a playoff situation, the doubters will exist but this is a dominant defensive team with enough talent to sustain offense and the casual fan hasn’t caught up just yet.
6. Washington Wizards (41-25, Last week — 6th)
A five-game winning streak was snapped in Minnesota during Washington’s last outing but, as noted above, that isn’t such a bad loss right now. The Wizards are still playing extremely well to the point where it’s easy to forget how rough this team was at the start of the season. It’s a distant memory and with good reason.
7. Boston Celtics (42-25, Last week — 9th)
Boston catches a bump from winning on the road in Oakland, even during a week in which Brad Stevens’ team lost by 20 points in Denver. There is gaining momentum for the notion that the Celtics are simply a regular season creation, and I might be on board with that. Still, this is a regular season ranking and Boston is really good.
8. Toronto Raptors (39-28, Last week — 8th)
After road losses in Atlanta and Miami, the Raptors bounced back for an impressive and dominant win over the Mavs at home to end the week. This team (badly) needs Kyle Lowry healthy but they’ve done enough to stay afloat with him on the shelf – so far.
9. Oklahoma City Thunder (38-29, Last week — 12th)
Russell Westbrook remains out of his mind and the Thunder just posted a 3-0 week including wins over San Antonio and Utah. There is no statistical evidence that places Oklahoma City on par with those teams but, on any night, Westbrook can (and will) do something crazy. It’s just up to his teammates to keep pace in order to make this Thunder team as dangerous as it can be.
10. Los Angeles Clippers (40-27, Last week — 7th)
It is a pleasure to watch Chris Paul play basketball. With the “Point God” on the floor this season, the Clips are 32-14. That means that, without him, Los Angeles is 8-13. You don’t have to be a math wizard to figure out the direct correlation there. When Paul is healthy, the Clippers are scary for anyone this side of Golden State.
11. Denver Nuggets (32-35, Last week — 17th)
Okay, this might be a slight overreaction. The Nuggets are rolling, though, and the aforementioned home win over the Celtics cemented this leap for the week. FiveThirtyEight now projects Denver with a 64 percent chance to make the playoffs and, frankly, that seems low.
12. Atlanta Hawks (37-30, Last week — 16th)
It was a good week for the Hawks, even if it ended on a sour note. Atlanta picked up badly needed wins over both Toronto and Memphis in impressive fashion, and in the end, there is nothing wrong with losing to the Spurs on the road. There are plenty of jokes revolving around the fact that Hawks haven’t won in San Antonio since 1997 (!) but if you look beyond that, things are going fairly well for Paul Millsap and company at the moment.
13. Memphis Grizzlies (37-30, Last week — 11th)
Memphis stopped the bleeding of a five-game losing skid and saved themselves a few spots in the rankings by beating Milwaukee. In fact, the Grizzlies looked quite good against the Bucks and they’ll need to recapture that mojo in order to maintain the perception that they’ll be a tough out in the playoffs.
14. Milwaukee Bucks (32-34, Last week — 15th)
The Bucks were playing much better basketball than the Grizzlies until the two teams met and the result of that game is reflected here. In the same breath, Milwaukee reeled off six straight wins before that, and Giannis Antetokounmpo has this team clicking at the right time. It’s been a roller coaster ride all season long but the Bucks might be playoff bound after all.
15. Indiana Pacers (34-33, Last week — 14th)
Paul George and company have traded off with wins and losses every other game for an 11-game span. If that isn’t indicative of what this team actually is then I don’t know what else to tell you. You’re looking at the picture of an average basketball team.
16. Miami Heat (32-35, Last week — 10th)
Miami is 21-5 since their 11-30 start and that includes a four-game winning streak that bled into last week. Things ended on a sour note with a loss to Indy but the Heat have been ridiculous for a long time now. They might mess around and make the playoffs in a season in which they were plagued by injuries, including the gaping absence of Chris Bosh.
17. Minnesota Timberwolves (28-38, Last week — 24th)
This might be aggressive but I don’t think so. Nobody wants to fool around with the Wolves on a night in which they play well.
18. Detroit Pistons (33-34, Last week — 13th)
It is unfair to suggest that a loss to the almighty Cavs would have a real impact on the standing of the Pistons but it kind of did. Detroit was waxed in Cleveland by 32 points on Tuesday and they looked bad doing it. It’s tough to erase that stink within 24 hours.
19. Portland Trail Blazers (29-37, Last week — 18th)
Before running into the good side of the Pelicans on Tuesday, the Blazers picked up five wins over a six-game span. The only loss during that time came by one point to the Wizards, and even with the New Orleans result looming, the results have been encouraging lately.
20. Chicago Bulls (32-35, Last week — 20th)
If not for a road win in Charlotte to end the week, the Bulls would have been punished in a big way here. It was typical of Chicago, though, to romp a comparable opponent on the road to save face. What a weird season.
21. Dallas Mavericks (28-38, Last week — 19th)
Dallas is 3.5 games out of the No. 8 spot again and that might be the end of the threat in general. This is a team that is definitely better than their record indicates when at full strength, but the catastrophic start just never let them thrive.
22. Charlotte Hornets (29-38, Last week — 21st)
If you have faint playoff aspirations, you can’t lose to the Bulls and Pelicans at home over a 48-hour period. That is exactly what the Hornets did and, as a result, Charlotte is 3.5 games out of the No. 8 spot with three teams to leap in order to make the cut.
23. New Orleans Pelicans (27-40, Last week — 23rd)
The Pelicans looked good in throttling the Blazers on Tuesday but I’m not convinced yet. We would have to see more from New Orleans and they are just far enough from the playoffs (five games) where tanking would probably be preferable to going all-out for victories.
24. New York Knicks (27-41, Last week — 22nd)
Instead of discussing basketball, let’s all reflect on the splendor that was Carmelo Anthony’s postgame outfit after a win on Tuesday. It was majestic and everyone noticed.
25. Philadelphia 76ers (24-43, Last week — 27th)
Crediting the Sixers with a run-of-the-mill road win would be misguided because Philly beat the Lakers in that spot. Still, it is borderline incredible that the current roster for the Sixers could beat anyone on the road and Dario Saric has been fantastic at times with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Philly was actually more impressive in a loss (to Golden State) than anything else but, even then, it ended in the wrong result.
26. Sacramento Kings (26-41, Last week — 28th)
Sacramento beat Orlando at home. That is the only reason the Kings are even this well respected in the rankings. That win only broke an eight-game losing streak, though, and the Magic are utterly brutal at times. At least there are some bright spots in Skal Labissiere and the young assets that Sacramento is now unleashing, but it’s not the best recipe for actual wins.
27. Phoenix Suns (22-45, Last week — 26th)
Three straight home losses leave Phoenix in this position and the worst of those defeats came against the Lakers. That’s a game that the Suns simply can’t lose, even with a strong road win in Dallas on the calendar this week. On the bright side, Phoenix is more fun to watch than just about anyone else near the bottom of this list. (It’s the little things.)
28. Orlando Magic (24-44, Last week — 25th)
The Magic lost to the Hornets by 40 (!) points this week and dropped a game to the currently hapless Kings for good measure. It remains unfathomable that Orlando is as bad as they are on defense but nothing is going particularly well anyway.
29. Brooklyn Nets (12-54, Last week — 30th)
Brooklyn was blasted, at home, by the Thunder on Tuesday and they have a big-time cushion in the race for the worst record in the NBA. Why, then, are they out of the basement? Well, a win over the Knicks certainly helps and competitive performances on the road in Atlanta and Dallas lately are doubly encouraging.
30. Los Angeles Lakers (20-47, Last week — 29th)
The Lakers have one victory since Feb. 10 and, more importantly, Los Angeles actually has an incentive to lose in the way that Brooklyn simply does not. This is a team with much more talent than its closest competitor but, in terms of actual on-court performance right now, the Lakers really might be worse than the Nets. It’s kind of amazing.
