RandBall: Even with their flaws, Timberwolves shouldn’t be afraid of anyone in playoffs

The Timberwolves have beaten the best team in the Western Conference twice this month, the second time coming in shocking fashion after rallying from a 24-point fourth-quarter deficit in a 131-128 overtime victory at Oklahoma City on Monday night.

Yet being a fan of these Wolves requires the sort of unconditional love reserved for a child.

You know they mean well. You know they are trying their best. You know they will inevitably do something unbearably frustrating. And yet ...

How else to describe a team that is 32-27 overall, already with more losses than last season’s 56-26 juggernaut that reached the Western Conference finals?

They are in seventh place in the crowded Western Conference by percentage points but are an impressive yet maddening 11-7 combined against the six teams ahead of them.

The biggest compliment we can give these Wolves — and it is a real compliment — is that while they are capable of losing to anyone, they are also capable of beating anyone.

That’s a nightmare during the regular season, but it could be a dream during the postseason.

Quite simply, as I talked about on Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast: The Wolves shouldn’t be afraid of anyone in the West during the playoffs.

Are they even going to get to the playoffs, you might ask incredulously.

The answer at the moment is “there’s probably a better chance than you think.”

Basketball Reference gives them a 71.9% chance of being a top-six seed, which would let them avoid the play-in round, and a 92.6% chance of making the playoffs as at least a top-eight seed once the play-in is done.

Of course, much of that is predicated on the other edge of the sword: The Wolves by far have played the hardest schedule of any team in the West and by an even larger margin have the easiest remaining schedule of any team in the conference.

After Thursday’s game at the Los Angeles Lakers, a formidable foe to be sure, the Wolves have this over the next month: at Utah, at Phoenix, Philadelphia, at Charlotte, at Miami, San Antonio, at Denver, Orlando, Utah, Indiana, New Orleans (twice), at Indiana, Phoenix, Detroit.

After that, it’s a testy five-game road trip, but the season ends with home games against Brooklyn and Utah.

The Wolves can give themselves a good shot against the best teams in the West only if they take care of business against some of the NBA’s lesser teams.

But they should have a deeper roster than they had earlier in the season. Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo are close to returning, while Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark and (sometimes) Rob Dillingham have emerged in their absence — not to mention the blossoming of Jaden McDaniels.

Whether they do it is another matter.

Indeed, as multiple people have pointed out to me as I tested out this theory in other spaces: Perhaps the team the Wolves have to fear the most in the West is themselves.