Wolves Only Have Themselves to Blame for All-Time Playoff Gauntlet

If the Timberwolves want to get over the hump this year and reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, they're almost certainly going to have to go through one of the most treacherous playoff paths of all time.

There are no Suns or Lakers or shorthanded Warriors to be played this year. Standing between the Wolves and the Finals are three juggernaut teams led by the three best players on the planet.

Up first are Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, who enter the first round on a 12-game winning streak. When healthy, this Nuggets team is every bit as good as the one that won the championship three years ago, with Jamal Murray playing better than ever and Aaron Gordon a lethal third option.

If the Wolves can pull off what would be a sizable upset in that series, they'll be greeted by Victor Wembanyama and the 62-win Spurs, barring a truly stunning upset by the seventh-seeded Trail Blazers. Minnesota did beat the Spurs twice this season, but that was before they went 30-4 to end the regular season. Wemby is a basketball alien already approaching the "best in the world" conversation at age 22, and the Spurs are loaded with guard talent around him.

If the Timberwolves were to upset the Spurs in the second round and get back to the conference finals for a third straight year, there's probably at least an 80 percent chance they'd face off against the defending champs again. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder won 64 games this year, easily led the NBA in net rating for the second straight year, and only need to get past the 8 seed and the Rockets-Lakers winner to reach the WCF.

Oh, and if the Wolves were to pull off a third straight major upset, they'd still have to beat the Pistons or Celtics or whichever team comes out of the East to actually secure the Larry O'Brien Trophy. It's truly an all-time gauntlet of a path.

And guess what? The Timberwolves have no one but themselves to blame for creating this daunting road through the Western Conference. That's what happens when you lollygag through parts of the regular season, lose several games you have no business losing, and wind up as the sixth seed.

When looking back at the Wolves' 82-game journey, these eight losses stand out.

11/21: Suns 114, Wolves 113 (blew 8-point lead in final 50 seconds)
11/24: Kings 117, Wolves 112 (blew 10-point lead in final 3 mins)
12/17: Grizzlies 116, Wolves 110 (No Edwards but a bad loss at home)
12/27: Nets 123, Wolves 107 (one of 20 Brooklyn wins all season)
1/20: Jazz 127, Wolves 122 (one of 22 Utah wins)
1/22: Bulls 120, Wolves 115
2/2: Grizzlies 137, Wolves 128
2/6: Pelicans 119, Wolves 115 (healthy home loss to a 26-win team)

Several other defeats could be mixed in as well, but those are the worst ones. Had the Wolves won even four or five of those extremely winnable games, they'd be somewhere in the 3-5 seed range and would have a much more manageable first-round matchup against the Rockets or the extremely shorthanded Lakers. At most, they'd have to face two of the three juggernaut teams in the West to reach the Finals, not all three.

That's why the regular season matters. The Wolves are going to try to flip a switch and come to life in the playoffs, but their odds of getting through this gauntlet are slim. Of course, there's no truly easy path when the Thunder, Spurs, and Nuggets all exist, but the Wolves made things more difficult on themselves by not taking the regular season as seriously as they could've.

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