Predicting the final NBA Playoff bracket based on All-Star Break standings
4. Minnesota Timberwolves
For the better part of the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been near the top of the Western Conference standings. From the onset of this season, it seems as if they have finally found a way to make everything click. Rudy Gobert looks like a dominant defensive force again and Karl-Anthony Towns is no longer a player that the team is dying to get off their roster. Anthony Edwards continues to make strides in his game and the team's supporting cast has been good enough to help elevate the Wolves this season.
If the Wolves can continue to play at a high level over the final 30 games of the season, they should enter the postseason with, at worst, homecourt advantage in the first round of the postseason. I predict the Wolves will have some shaky moments over the course of the last two months of the season but will still enter as the 4th seed.
But regular season success and playoff success are two very different things. The good news for the Wolves is that this team will have playoff success under their belts heading into the postseason this year.