League 1st! League 2nd! Another dark horse in the west was born, and they have become a big problem for the Lakers Clippers!
There is no doubt that this season's Memphis Grizzlies are definitely the super dark horse of the Wild West and even the league, and this youth army led by Morant last season also needed to get the last playoff ticket in the West through two rounds of playoffs, and now ranks second in the West with 48 wins and 22 losses, behind the league's first Phoenix Suns with 56 wins and 14 losses. Before the start of this season, I am afraid that no one would have thought that the Grizzlies would play such incredible performances and records, after all, there are too many teams in the entire West, and the Warriors, Jazz, Nuggets, Lone Rangers and even the Lakers and Clippers are more optimistic about the playoff prospects before them! But under the leadership of Morant, the Grizzlies have broken through the siege and become a backbone force in the West that cannot be underestimated, which is impressive!
Indeed, this season's Wild West really has a bit of a big shuffle, the past playoff regular Lakers, Clippers, Blazers, Spurs and other teams have fallen, which does give other teams the opportunity to turn serfs to sing, and the Grizzlies have become the most outstanding team! Perhaps, this year's Wild West is destined to be a year of dark horses, with the invincible Memphis Grizzlies before and the up-and-coming Minnesota Timberwolves.
I'm afraid no one would have thought that the Minnesota Timberwolves suddenly emerged as super dark horses as they approached the end of the regular season! Admittedly, there was a time at the beginning of the season when the Timberwolves played very well and made it to the top four, but as the schedule progressed, they soon began to sink, coupled with the back-and-forth attacks of other strong teams, which quickly made them fall out of the top eight in the West! But after a period of silence, the Timberwolves' performance has become more and more unmanageable since the All-Star Weekend!
So, just how explosive was the Timberwolves' performance after All-Star Weekend? After the last home win over the Los Angeles Lakers 124-104, the Timberwolves have achieved an impressive record of 10 wins and 2 losses after The All-Star Weekend, the first in the league in the same period. In addition, after the All-Star Weekend, the Timberwolves ranked third in the league in offensive efficiency and second in the league in defensive efficiency. The Timberwolves after the All-Star Weekend are really unstoppable, with the same record of the league first, defensive efficiency league second, offensive efficiency league third, so the explosive performance is really breathtaking! This is probably the key to their firm occupation of the seventh place in the west!
As of now, the Timberwolves have a record of 41 wins and 30 losses, ranking seventh in the West, and although they have not rushed into the first six playoffs, they are only 1.5 wins behind the sixth Nuggets, and there is still a chance to catch up with the Nuggets in the future. But their advantage over the team behind them is incredible. The Timberwolves are now 5.5 wins ahead of the Eighth Clippers and as many as 11 wins ahead of the Ninth Lakers. We all know that the Lakers and Clippers have not given up the fight for playoff tickets this season, but the first big mountain in front of them now is the Minnesota Timberwolves, and in the playoffs they will all be able to talk directly to the Timberwolves.
Not to mention that the Timberwolves have home advantage over both the Clippers and the Lakers in the playoffs, which will be more conducive to their impact on the playoffs. I have to admit the heart-wrenching fact that the dark horse Timberwolves have now become a big problem for the Lakers and Clippers, and this dark horse team can be called a huge stumbling block for them to impact the playoffs, which is difficult to shake! You two don't want to get a Ticket to the Western Conference playoffs easily, because they're the first to not say yes.