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When the Minnesota Timberwolves led the Milwaukee Bucks by 20 points entering the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's game in Milwaukee, it appeared as if Anthony Edwards and his team were on their way to another key victory. This win would have extended the Wolves' win streak to six games. It would have also kept them even with everyone else in the Western Conference standings and playoff race.
No lead is ever safe in the NBA, and Minnesota learned that the hard way against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.
Milwaukee outscored their West foes 40-13 in the final quarter of play, rallying from a 24-point deficit to win 110-103. This is a devastating loss for the Timberwolves, as they now face an uphill climb to avoid the play-in tournament.
Nothing will become easier for the Timberwolves, as another key battle approaches. Minnesota will be in Memphis on Thursday in a game that will decide a play-in tournament spot in the West.
The loser of this game will be in a rough spot considering that the other teams in the middle of the pack have been rolling in recent games. This is now the Timberwolves' most important game of the season, as a loss to the Grizzlies will be detrimental in the West playoff race.
Where Timberwolves are in West standings
After losing to the Bucks on Tuesday night, the Timberwolves are 46-33 this season with three games remaining to try and make up some ground on their Western Conference rivals.
The main reason why this loss in Milwaukee is so significant is due to the fact that the LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors, and Memphis Grizzlies all won on Tuesday night. As a result, these three teams jumped Minnesota in the standings.
With three games remaining, the Timberwolves are one full game back of these three teams and the Denver Nuggets in the standings.
Right now, the Wolves would be scheduled to play in the 7-seed vs. 8-seed play-in tournament game to try and earn their playoff spot. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets have already clinched the 1-seed and 2-seed in the West, respectively.
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Timberwolves' scenarios and tiebreakers
The Timberwolves are in trouble.
There was no reason for this team to take their foot off the gas pedal in Milwaukee on Tuesday night, and they paid the price — being outscored by 27 points in the final quarter of play.
Now that they are one game back in the standings, Minnesota will need a lot of help to avoid the play-in tournament. Of course, they can help themselves out by defeating Memphis on Thursday.
Even so, the Grizzlies will still own the season tiebreaker over the Timberwolves because they won the first two meetings of the year against them. They also don't own the head-to-head tiebreaker against Golden State. However, the Timberwolves do own tiebreakers over the Clippers and Nuggets.
While they won't play until Thursday, the Timberwolves will watch the results of Wednesday night's contests across the league. Losses by Los Angeles and Golden State could go a long way in Minnesota potentially climbing out of the play-in region of the standings.
At this point, the Timberwolves are going to have to win and receive a little bit of help to claim an actual playoff spot in the West standings.
