Playoff watch: Wolves' path to postseason gets easier

The Minnesota Timberwolves are looking to end a 13-year NBA playoff drought. There's no certainty yet of this happening and things have definitely gotten more interesting over the last week.

With the season ending in a month (April 11), here's the latest look at Minnesota's playoff chances and the week ahead.

 

IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY

Playoff drought over! But Minnesota would be the No. 7 seed and take on the Golden State Warriors, who would have home-court advantage.

 

STANDINGS

The first two seeds in the Western Conference are all but locked up (and No. 3 is looking pretty locked in too) but the Wolves are one of seven teams battling for the fourth through eight seeds. While Minnesota is currently the seventh seed, the Wolves are in a near-tie with eighth Utah and trail fourth seed Oklahoma City by just 1 1/2 games.

Here's the how the playoff race currently shapes up including game remaining (GR) for each team:

 

THIS WEEK

If you were nervous about Minnesota's playoff chances last week, well, rest a little easier, friend. Oklahoma City, New Orleans and Portland get to beat up on each other this week, while the Wolves host lowly Atlanta and Memphis before heading to Utah. New Orleans and San Antonio are staring down particularly tough weeks, giving the Wolves ample opportunity to move up.

 

Portland: Tuesday -- at New Orleans; Wednesday -- at Memphis; Friday -- vs. LA Clippers; Sunday -- vs. Memphis

Oklahoma City: Thursday -- at San Antonio; Friday -- vs. Denver; Sunday -- at New Orleans

New Orleans: Tuesday -- vs. Portland; Friday -- at Cleveland; Sunday -- vs. Oklahoma City

San Antonio: Tuesday -- at Washington; Thursday -- vs. Oklahoma City; Sunday -- vs. Houston

Minnesota: Monday -- vs. Memphis; Wednesday -- vs. Atlanta; Friday -- at Dallas; Sunday -- vs. Utah

Utah: Wednesday -- vs. Boston; Friday -- vs. Memphis; Sunday -- at Minnesota

Denver: Monday -- at Philadelphia; Tuesday -- at Toronto; Friday -- at Oklahoma City; Sunday -- vs. Milwaukee

L.A. Clippers: Tuesday -- vs. Milwaukee; Wednesday -- at Phoenix; Friday -- at Portland; Sunday -- vs. Indiana

 

THE WOLVES PERSPECTIVE

The schedule makers picked a good time to give the Wolves a pair of home games against last-place Atlanta and almost-last-place Memphis. Minnesota could get all the way back up to the No. 4 spot with three wins this week, a move which would obviously do wonders for its playoff potential. The Wolves have the west's easiest schedule the rest of the way at .364 after surviving a brutal mid-March stretch, and are primed to take advantage.

PLAYOFF ODDS

The website playoffstatus.com currently calculates Minnesota's playoff chances for each seed as the following:

3 - 7 percent (last week: 6 percent)

4 - 27 percent (last week: 22 percent)

5 - 25 percent (last week: 26 percent)

6 - 17 percent (last week: 19 percent)

7 - 12 percent (last week: 15 percent)

8 - 8 percent (last week: 11 percent)

Out - 3 percent (last week: 5 percent)