Yet Another Must Win For Minnesota

***Be sure to come back to Wolves Hoops Blog on Thursday for my SPM article on this game, along with any locker room quotes and notes I may obtain from both teams.***

Holding the tiebreaker for a playoff spot with the Los Angeles Clippers already, the Timberwolves must win their three-game season series with the Golden State Warriors in order to have any realistic chance at squeaking into the playoffs. That is, at least, if securing the eighth playoff spot and a first round exit at the hands of either Dallas or Phoenix is a season goal for this team.

These three teams will be battling for one playoff spot for the remainder of the season. Most believe that the Clippers will eventually stake their claim to the spot, so things need to change quickly for Minnesota.

Golden State is no longer a team that should be overlooked. With Baron Davis leading the charge with new teammates Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington, who joined the Warriors recently after being traded from Indiana, Golden State has a number of nice pieces to their attack. All three of the mentioned players will be match up nightmares for the Wolves, so Coach Randy Wittman has a lot of work to do before tip off tomorrow night.

Losing their past four games, Minnesota is obviously struggling at the moment. With the next three games against this Golden State team, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Boston Celtics, two of the three games in the Target Center, the Wolves hopefully can find some consistency and go into the All-Star break on the highest possible note for a non-playoff team.

This stretch of games sandwiching the All-Star weekend will determine the season for Minnesota. With eight of the next ten games in Minnesota, they can, in theory at least, make up for a rough past two weeks. After this nice stretch of home games, Minnesota will then hit the road for nine of the next fourteen games.

That is why every game is important and Minnesota can no longer afford to lose to teams under the 0.500 mark, as they have consistently throughout this season. It is expected that the Wolves coaching staff will make shake things up soon and that needs to start Wednesday against Golden State.