As it stands right now, none … I repeat, none of the critical games in the Western Conference’s 8 – 11 seed, which will determine who faces the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs is set to be broadcast on NBATV, ESPN, or TNT.
I guess they figured if the coaches are sitting everyone for load management, the networks might as well, too.
I hope that changes before 4 p.m. today.
| WESTERN CONFERENCE | EASTERN CONFERENCE |
| Los Angeles Lakers 52-18 .743 | Milwaukee Bucks 56-16 .778 |
| Los Angeles Clippers 48-23 .676 | Toronto Raptors 52-19 .732 |
| Denver Nuggets 46-26 .639 | Boston Celtics 48-23 .676 |
| Oklahoma City Thunder 44-27 .620 | Miami Heat 44-28 .611 |
| Houston Rockets 44-27 .620 | Indiana Pacers 44-28 .611 |
| Utah Jazz 43-28 .606 | Philadelphia 76ers 42-30 .583 |
| Dallas Mavericks 43-31 .581 | Brooklyn Nets 35-36 .493 |
| *Portland Trailblazers 34-39 .466 | Orlando Magic 32-40 .444 |
| *Memphis Grizzlies 33-39 .458 | |
| *Phoenix Suns 33-39 .458 | |
| *San Antonio Spurs 32-38 .457 |
- = Still in play until the end of the schedule tonight, when two teams will fall out of contention and the last two will play a play-in on Saturday
Portland Trail Blazers 34-39 (.466)
Portland gets the No. 8 seed with a win, or losses by Memphis, Phoenix and San Antonio Portland gets the No. 9 seed with a combined two losses from Phoenix, San Antonio or Memphis
Memphis Grizzlies 33-39 (.458)
Memphis gets the No. 8 seed with a win and a Portland loss
Memphis gets the No. 9 seed with a win, or losses by Phoenix and San Antonio
Phoenix Suns 33-39 (.458)
Phoenix gets the No. 8 seed with a win, combined with a Memphis loss and a Portland loss
Phoenix gets the No. 9 seed with a win, combined with a Memphis loss or a Portland loss
San Antonio Spurs 32-38 (.457)
San Antonio gets the No. 8 seed with a win, combined with a Memphis loss, a Phoenix loss and a Portland loss
San Antonio gets the No. 9 seed with a win, plus a combined two losses from Phoenix, Portland or Memphis
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Indiana Pacers 108
Houston Rockets 104
It looked like James Harden and the Houston Rockets were going to do it again.
After being down seven points with 45 seconds remaining to the Dallas Mavericks on opening night in the bubble, the Rockets tied the game and forced overtime, where they went on to soundly defeat Dallas.
Houston was down by double that to the Indiana Pacers last night with a shade over five minutes remaining, and here came Harden and the Rockets again, and with 27 seconds remaining, Houston was within two, 106-104. James Harden was responsible for 11 of those points. He would score a game high 45 overall, but could not get another three pointer to go and the Rockets lost back to back games for the first time in the bubble.
Myles Turner and Justin Holiday had 18 points apiece to lead the Pacers, who were resting some principals (Malcolm Brogdon, T.J. Warren). Edmond Sumner knocked down 17 points, while Victor Oladipo and Doug McDermott were responsible for 16 points apiece in the win.
Russell Westbrook (quad muscle injury) sat this one out, leaving the onus on Harden to carry the load, though he shot 21 shots to get his 45 and took Westbrook’s place in turnovers with six. Eric Gordon made his bubble debut with 13, and Robert Covington had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Indiana will face the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, a team they’ve lost two three times – including Monday night – and who they play tomorrow night.
Houston also plays Friday and could still (re)claim the No. 4 seed that the Oklahoma City Thunder captured last night with their win over Miami. Regardless, with no home court advantage, the Rockets and Thunder series will be very competitive.
| PACERS (44-28) 5th in the East | ROCKETS (44-27) 5th in the West |
| Myles Turner 18 points – 12 rebounds – two assists – one steal – one block | James Harden 45 points – 17 rebounds – nine assists – three steals |
| Justin Holiday 18 points – six rebounds – one assist – two steals – one block | Jeff Green 14 points – three rebounds – one assist – one block |
| Edmond Sumner 17 points – four rebounds – four assists – one block | Eric Gordon 13 points – four rebounds – one steal |
NEXT GAMES
Pacers vs. Heat – Friday
Rockets vs. Sixers – Friday
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Toronto Raptors 125
Philadelphia 76ers 121
I’m grateful that head coach Brett Brown chose to rest #VFLs Tobias Harris and Josh Richardson in Philadelphia’s last game, as they brought some effort and enthusiasm to last night’s game against the powerhouse Toronto Raptors and made it one of the better games of the night.
That energy, despite the losses of Ben Simmons overall and Joel Embiid’s ability to move due to an ankle injury (he only had five points in 14 minutes), helped the Philadelphia 76ers burst out to a 62-55 first half lead.
Despite a nine point reversal of fortune by the Toronto Raptors in the third quarter, the Sixers had the NBA champs down by 10 as late as the middle of the fourth quarter before Toronto’s bench made their run to steal the win and a 6-1 record since the inception of the eight game seeding schedule in Orlando.
Chris Boucher and Kyle Lowry combined for 38 points, with 19 apiece, in the win. Norman Powell had 17, and Pascal Siakam finished with 15 and nine on the night. Marc Gasol had 11 and five, while Fred VanVleet showed up with 10 points and six assists for the Raptors, who will face the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the Eastern Conference NBA Playoffs.
Philadelphia is set to face Boston, looking like #VFL Tobias Harris will be leading the charge as he did last night. Embiid will likely sit out the Sixers’ last game as he also took a shot on the hand last night, to add to the nagging ankle injury. If Harris and Richardson can get the help they got last night, they might win a game or two against the Boston Celtics.
| RAPTORS (52-19) 2nd in the East | SIXERS (42-30) 6th in the East |
| Chris Boucher 19 points – nine rebounds – four blocks | #VFL Tobias Harris 22 points – six rebounds – five assists – two blocks |
| Kyle Lowry 19 points – one rebound – three assists – two steals | Furkan Korkmaz 21 points – five rebounds – four assists – two steals |
| Norman Powell 17 points – three rebounds – one assist | Raul Neto 17 points – one rebound – five assists – one steal – one block |
NEXT GAMES
Raptors vs. Nuggets – Friday
Sixers vs. Rockets – Friday
********************
Miami Heat 115
Oklahoma City Thunder 116
A win over the Miami Heat gave the Oklahoma City Thunder the upper hand in the Western Conference standings, a conference loss one fewer than the Houston Rockets tipping the scales in their favor between two teams that sit at 44-27.
Last night, the Thunder showed incredible resolve after fall to a 42-29 Heat wave in the first quarter, they bounced back with a little thunder of their own, outscoring Miami by nine and then pouring it on in the fourth, outscoring the Heat by 19 and holding Miami to just 15 points to take the win by the slimmest of margins, thanks to Mike Muscala.
Muscala and Miami’s Tyler Herro, who led all scorers with 30 points on the night, traded three pointers at the end of the game with Muscala hitting two critical treys – including the game winner – and Herro coming up short in his chance to play the hero.
Both Conference’s 4 – 5 seedings are fairly set – the East’s in concrete with the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat squaring off in Round One. The West’s is firming up to likely be the Thunder taking on the Houston Rockets, just a matter of semantics who’s the four and who’s the five.
The Thunder may be without Luguentz Dort, who collided with Jae Crowder and did not return after holding his right knee.
| HEAT (44-28) 4th in the East | THUNDER (44-27) 4th in the West |
| Tyler Herro 30 points – six rebounds – two assists – one steal – one block | Darius Bazley 21 points – nine rebounds – four assists – one steal – one block |
| Duncan Robinson 19 points – two rebounds – three assists | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 18 points – four rebounds – one assist – one block |
| Goran Dragic 16 points – five rebounds – six assists – two steals | Abdel Nader 13 points – three rebounds – one assist – one steal |
NEXT GAMES
Heat vs, Pacers – Friday
Thunder vs. Clippers – Friday
********************
Los Angeles Clippers 124
Denver Nuggets 111
The Denver Nuggets can backslide all they want, though it would have been nice for them to make as much of a statement game against the Los Angeles Clippers as they did against the Los Angeles Lakers.
After all, I doubt many will disagree with me, the Clippers are a much better team than the Lakers at this stage of the season, despite the standings.
After all, the Lakers didn’t outscore the Nuggets 74-53 in the second half of their game the other night. The Clippers did that last night, ripping off 13 consecutive in the middle of the third quarter to fuel the run.
It’s not that Denver didn’t put up a fight, although there was a lot of single digit scoring littering the Nuggets’ scorecard, but more so that the Clippers did their homework on defense and held Michael Porter, Jr. to 11, and Jamal Murray and Torrey Craig to 10 apiece. They also forced Nikola Jokic to kick out more than he rebounded, which was key to L.A. keeping the rebounding edge at 40-42, despite not having a Jokic-caliber center.
Also, it seems everything in the universe is coming together when you have a confluence of Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Lou Williams combining for 76 points to lead your team to victory. These Clippers aren’t the same when one of these gentlemen are missing, we can all admit that, no matter who your favorite Clipper is.
The win locks L.A. into the number two seed in the West, ready to face the Dallas Mavericks. It also likely pits the Nuggets against the Utah Jazz, in what may be the first round’s only seven game series.
| CLIPPERS (48-23) 2nd in the West | NUGGETS (46-26) 3rd in the West |
| Paul George 27 points – four rebounds – four assists – three steals | Jerami Grant 25 points – six rebounds – one assist – one steal |
| Kawhi Leonard 26 points – five rebounds – three assists – two steals | Nikola Jokic 17 points – seven rebounds – 13 assists |
| Lou Williams 23 points – two rebounds – seven assists – one block | Michael Porter, Jr. 11 points – five rebounds – two assists – one steal – one block |
NEXT GAMES
Nuggets vs. Raptors – Friday
Clippers vs. Thunder – Friday
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THURSDAY’S LINEUP
(All Times Eastern)
| 12 p.m. Washington Wizards Boston Celtics NBC Sports Boston | 1:30 p.m. Sacramento Kings Los Angeles Lakers NBC Sports California |
| 4 p.m. Dallas Mavericks Phoenix Suns Fox Sports Southwest | 4 p.m. Milwaukee Bucks Memphis Grizzlies Fox Sports Southeast |
| 6:30 p.m. San Antonio Spurs Utah Jazz AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain | 9 p.m. New Orleans Pelicans Orlando Magic Fox Sports Florida |
| 9 p.m. Portland Trailblazers Brooklyn Nets NBC Sports Northwest |
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Tracy Graven is a Senior NBA Analyst for BackSportsPage.com.
He has written the NBA, and done NBA radio, for the last two decades for HoopsWorld, Swish Magazine, and HoopsHype, the Coach Scott Fields Show and NBARadioShow.com, and is also tackling the NFL, NCAA, and will be pinch-hitting on some Major League Baseball coverage for BackSportsPage.
He’s spent 20 years in locker rooms in
- Orlando
- Boise (G League)
- San Antonio
- Phoenix
- Denver
- Oklahoma City
- Atlanta
A corporate trainer by day, he currently resides in SEC Country near Knoxville, Tennessee.
Reach him on Twitter at @RealTMoneyMedia
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