Rankings of games left.....Let the shakeup begin in the West

Minnesota has 5 games left against opponents with less than 25 wins, which is a cake walk compared to some of the other schedules. I wouldn't doubt if they end up in the 4th spot, with New Orleans in 5th. It's kind of like a preview to the playoffs this month. All the playoff teams are playing each other and sealing their own fate. The games will be fun to watch!

 

We could be. Utah has the potential to move up, but will seal their own fate.

I think they got that chart wrong with Minnesota though. They have a better record than anyone they have left to play, so they could win all their remaining games. They probably won't, but it is possible. Meanwhile, San Antonio, New Orleans and OKC could all easily lose 2 or 3 more games when they face better opponents. That will pave the way for Minnesota to slide right up into a bottleneck of teams fighting for their spots. I hope OKC ends up in the 7th spot to play the Warriors first round. It is entirely possible. The funny thing is, any of those teams could end up in the 3 or 4 spot, depending how they do facing each other.

 

Boy was I wrong about Minnesota. They had nobody but teams with worse records left to play and have already lost 2 of those. They are giving this opportunity away to move on up.

 

Looking at the remaining games, the teams would end up like this if they beat everyone they played who had a worse record than them. I am showing losses in red. The only exception to this was where I gave OKC the win over GSW, due to the injuries on their team. As for New Orleans and Utah, I showed them losing to GSW, because of when they play them, but who knows. Top 3 will obviously stay as they are.

HOU
GSW
POR
MINN (49-33) DAL, UTAH, DEN, LA, MEM, DEN
OKC (49-33) DEN, NO, GSW, HOU, MIA, MEM
SAN (48-34) HOU, LAC, LA, POR, SAC, NO
NO (46-36) CLE, OKC, MEM, PHO, GSW, LAC, SAN
UTAH (44-38) MEM, MINN, LAC, LA, GSW, POR
_____
LAC (43-39) POR, IND, SAN, UTAH, DEN, NO, LA
DEN (42-40) OKC, MIL, IND, MIN, LAC, POR, MIN

The toughest team Minnesota plays is Utah, but Denver will give them a fight when they play them twice, trying to grasp threads to get to that 8th seed. Minnesota would win a tie-breaker having beat OKC 3 times. Somehow I think Minnesota will screw this up and slip down. I see San Antonio losing to Houston and Portland, and OKC losing only to us unfortunately. What will either tie them up or put OKC ahead is the GSW game, which I think they will win with the injuries going on for GSW.

 

I hope tonight's game against the Warriors is a preview to round 1 of the playoffs. OKC has lost 5 of the last 7 games now! Treading water, and it's sink or swim as that 7th seed lingers closer with every game. Gotta love it!

 

Could be, but probably unlikely, because of the teams below them and their schedules.

 

I'm not saying it can't happen, and it certainly can. OKC could slip to 8th if they lose all 3 games they have left. I doubt they lose to Miami and Memphis though. The Pelicans still face GSW and San Antonio, so unless they pull some upsets they won't catch OKC. Denver still faces Minnesota twice and Portland. Who knows about those games. What I do know is Portland choked to Dallas last night. I guess they played like we played Phoenix, but lost because Dallas is slightly better than Phoenix......LOL.