Breaking news:Omg it happening again Denver Nuggets just got sad report now
With just a single game left in the 2023-24 NBA regular season, the Minnesota Timberwolves currently sit in a three-way tie with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets for the top spot in the Western Conference.
As things currently stand the Thunder have the No. 1 seed via the tiebreaker of combined winning percentage against the Wolves and Nuggets, but a lot can still change heading into the regular season finale.
Here is the NBA’s complete breakdown of the playoff seeds that have yet to be determined heading into the final day of the regular season.
An interesting aspect of the playoff tiebreakers is that even though the Thunder have the three-way tiebreaker, the Timberwolves have the individual tiebreakers over both the Thunder and the Nuggets.
This means that for the Wolves to finish with the number one seed, they need to defeat the Phoenix Suns and get a loss from either the Thunder or the Nuggets.
The problem with counting on a loss from the Thunder is that their opponent, the Dallas Mavericks, will be resting most if not all of their rotation players as they did Friday night when they lost to the league-worst Detroit Pistons. The Thunder are currently 19-point favorites on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
That leaves the Nuggets, who on the surface don’t seem like a candidate to lose, either, as they face the 27-54 Memphis Grizzlies. The wrinkle to that is it appears the Nuggets may be resting most of their players in the game.
It is unclear whether the Nuggets are trying to give the Timberwolves an opportunity at the No. 1 seed to potentially avoid a second-round matchup with Minnesota, if they value the extra rest over a potential shot at the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, or some combination of both. Keep in mind that Denver will be the No. 3 seed if OKC and Minnesota win on Sunday, so a potential Nuggets win over the Grizzlies may not even matter.
Either way, Timberwolves fans should be cheering for the Grizzlies, who are locked into having the seventh-best lottery odds and can win the game without jeopardizing their draft position. The group Memphis will send out on Sunday almost beat a full-strength Los Angeles Lakers team on Friday, so they have some ability.
With a win against the Suns, the Timberwolves can finish no lower than the No. 2 seed, securing home court in at least the first two rounds. With a loss, the Wolves would be out of contention for the No. 1 seed and could fall to the No. 3 seed with victories by both the Thunder and Nuggets.