Okay, how's about we just need the Mavs to lose to the Heat?
Come on, don't be a pessimist. I was joking about the Timberwolves, but in all seriousness, for all we know the Mavs could lose to the Heat, us, and the Hornets twice. And we could win our remaining 8 games. This would put us into the playoffs wouldn't even require that the Mavs lose to the Rockets and the Jazz, which could very well happen too.
I am not completely giving up all hope until we are more games behind than the Mavs have remaining against good teams. Right now we're 4 games behind and they have to play 6 more good teams.
That's not to say that I think our chances are good. I would say it's about 5%, but that's enough to stick around a little longer and watch the rest of the games.