Ballscientist

IMO, Twolves are the first rounder again in the playoffs. Spurs, Kings and Mavs are better than Twolves. See my post in October: "State of the Wolves".

Currently Twolves are the West 7th seed. They have 2 Quality wins in the West.

1. In the final minute, they defeat Mavs without Dirk and Finley;

2. In the final minute defeat Rockets without Macgrady.

Next 2 games:

Play with Pacers without JO, Artest, Jackson

Play with Griz without Gasol.

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Johnny Mac

Damn, they've been extremely lucky. 15 games into the season and they already play against teams without McGrady, Dirk, JO, Finley, Artest, Jackson and Gasol.

I had my doubts about the Timberwolves, mainly because they lack interior defense and Cassell/Sprewell are aging and may not be able to duplicate the great seasons they had last year.

I see 1st round exit, again. I think they'll struggle to win any 7 game series against a playoff team in the west.

Ballscientist

Cassell is never a good defender. Spree can't defend any shooting guards now. He is Finley-like defender.

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Pan Mengtu

They'll be a second round team, western finals if they get lucky in who they face in the second round. Cassell and Sprewell are playing bad. I don't know if it's because of age or because they aren't getting paid like superstars, but they are playing really bad.

There are good roleplayers on the Wolves, but not enough to put them past the Spurs. This is 100% Kevin McHale (most overrated GM in the league)'s fault. But I think they'll still make it to the second round. Garnett is too good.

bball251

Wow. You guys realize the Wolves started even worse than this last year right? And if they had Cassell, the best PG in the league, healthy againt the Lakers there's a good chance they win the title. There is no chance in hell this team doesn't make the WCF, and they're probably the best team in the entire league. They're just off to a bad start becasue they aren't used to having Wally and Hudson playing.

Ballscientist

LOL excuse.

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bball251

Well it's only 10 games into the season and we've played teams without McGrady, Dirk, Finley, and Artest. I'm not sure where you get JO, Jackson, and Gasol from. And this team has arguably the best talent in the entire league, yet after 10 games into the season they aren't gonna be able to beat any playoff team in a 7 game series? Wow! If we play like we have so far yeah you're right, but you can't win a championship in Novemeber, remember that.

Johnny Mac

There is no chance they don't make the WCF? The west is a little too stacked to make that kind of statement. You couldn't say that about any team in the west, except maybe the Spurs, but the Spurs are a lot better than the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves have fallen back into the pack of playoff teams in the west.

Johnny Mac

I disagree. Timberwolves have no interior defense.

bball251

No the Spurs aren't alot better than the Wolves. So far this season yeah that would be an accurate statement, but the Wolves have just sucked early this year. You'll see, don't worry.

bball251

Garnett, Kandi, Madsen, Griffen, and even Erv. Doesn't seem that bad to me.

Ballscientist

no interior and exterior defense. see my post 'state of the Wolves'.

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Johnny Mac

And thats the problem.

Take out Duncan and Garnett as virtually equal, and compare the Spurs to the Timberwolves.

bball251

Cassell if healthy is way better than Parker. Ginobili and Spree are equal in the playoffs. Hassell is equal to Bowen I guess, Bowen might have slightly better D, Hassell with better O. Rasho is better than Kandi, but that doesn't say much. Wally is way better than Barry. Griffen and Horry are equal I guess. Rose and Madsen are equal. And then that leaves Hudson and Hoiberg who are 10x better than any other Spur. I think the Wolves are a better team than the Spurs if they are healthy and they mesh.

bball251

The Wolves have 2 of the best defenders in the entire league!