Dean's Blog: Wheels Down In Minneapolis, Thunder Playoffs Looming

Just landed here in the Twin Cities, exactly 24 hours after the Thunder extended their postseason chase – thank you, NBA rescinders – by putting away the shorthanded Trailblazers Monday night. News9 on the scene for what's become an awfully big game on the day that will decide if they'll make it six straight trips to the playoffs or one-in-a-row staying home.

It's fitting that in the end it could come down to bad luck. A season wasted because of the bad luck of sustaining a Guinness Book of World Records list of injuries that could end it all Wednesday night because of the bad luck of a lucky shot.

New Orleans owns the 8-seed tiebreaker because of Anthony Davis' miracle desperation hoist on February 7 from 30-feet that drew nothing but net and oohs and ahs that fateful night at Chesapeake Arena as the buzzer sounded handing the Pelicans a series-deciding 116-113 stunner. Davis scored the last of his 41 points that night – offsetting a brilliant 48 from Russ – with the double-clutch attempt with that guy named Durant coming at him. Many of us said at the time, “hope that doesn't come back to haunt the Thunder in a tiebreaker.”

News9 is here in Minneapolis to report on what should be a regular-season winning finale that would leave the Thunder with a respectable record of 45-37. Not bad with that Durant guy chipping in on just 27 games and most everyone else in Thunder Blue from Uncle Serge on down spending some time in the ER. OKC meets a bad Timberwolves team that is down to eight healthy bodies that necessitated that Flip Saunders play young phenoms Andrew Wiggins and Zach Levine 44 and 46 minutes respectively in the Pelicans route up here last night.

You know the drill: a win and a Pellies loss and OKC gets to play Golden State in the first round of the playoffs. A loss or a Pelican win and it's “sack up the balls, the party's over” time.

I'm expecting the luck turns tomorrow night – OKC wins and Spurs make it 12-straight wins. You might recall that I've been harping for three weeks now that it would likely come down to the issue of what the teams were playing for at the end to determine who advanced. As finally some good luck would have it, the Spurs are playing for second in the West, an extra homecourt series, and delaying a potential matchup with the Warriors until the Conference Finals. In fact, it's mathematically possible that if the Spurs lose in New Orleans tomorrow, that they'd drop all the way to sixth. So, play hard they will.

One other thing about the ‘play-hard' idea. There's still no way the Spurs ‘want it' as much as the Pellies, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Just as the NOLA noise meter will max out Wednesday night, so will the pressure on these Pels, who aren't exactly oozing with big game/playoff-atmosphere experience. How New Orleans responds under the gun will likely be the biggest factor of all in the two games tomorrow.

I'm saying the Thunder have a 60 percent chance of advancing. Former ESPN numbers guru John Hollinger pegs it a little more precisely, giving the Pels a 56.7 percent chance (OKC 43.3). BasketballReference.com likes OKC's chances, giving the Thunder a 62.9 percent chance of extending the season.

On one hand, I bet you're like me: kinda ready to end this thing. But when push comes to shove, even though the odds become fractional when talking about OKC's chances against Golden State, you still want to be part of the playoffs. The city could use the million or so they make per home game. The owners don't need it, but could use it and perhaps inch them closer to busing loose with the purse strings. Most importantly, after all these months you want to be part of the excitement of NBA postseason.

Not to mention the fact that I believe and have been told by multiple NBA people that Enes Kanter could use all the postseason pressure minutes he can get. And even though without KD and Serge (and surely they'd not let him step on the floor with all the bad luck with injuries they've already had and with the miniscule upside of him playing against Golden State!), Round 1 might be a quickie, these players and coaches have busted it all season. And they deserve the chance to take it to the big show.

Happy to be in Minnesota tonight. Please keep reading here on the website, Facebook and make sure to catch all my live reports on News9 Wednesday at 5, 6 and 10. Good night from the Twin Cities! And someone put a log on the fire!