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Oh man, it's going down to the wire on ALL of these races . . .
And here we go...
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The Good:
- The Utah Jazz, led by Al Jefferson, won a tough game at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves
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The Bad:
- The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, keeping that 1 game margin ahead of us
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The 'Meh':
- The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Portland Trail Blazers
- The San Antonio Spurs beat the Sacramento Kings
- The Denver Nuggets lost in OT to the Dallas Mavericks
- The Los Angeles Clippers beat the New Orleans Hornets
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Tonight:
Tonight there are just two games in the Western Conference -- the Memphis Grizzlies at the Los Angeles Clippers; and the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Phoenix Suns. The MEM/LAC game is big because DEN, MEM, and LAC are al still fighting for the #3 seed. And the MIN/PHX game is also key because it's the 2nd night of a B2B for Minny. Meaning that they have to keep playing. When we finally do play Minny again we would have had rested for two straight nights, and they would be tired.
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The Races:
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Race for #1: OKC (2 games left) has a 0.5 game lead on SAC (3 games left), they both have the same number of losses The Spurs will be playing the Kobe Bryant -less Lakers soon, and that win will probably make them want to "go for it".
- Race for #3: DEN (3), Mem (3), and LAC (3) are all right there. DEN and MEM are tied, and LAC is 1.0 games behind either of them. I think this #3 spot is good enough to make all three of those teams to still be trying to win games.
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Race for #6: GSW (2) and HOU (3) are separated by 0.5 games right now. They have the same number of losses.
- Race for #8: LAL (2) and Utah (2) have the same record right now. The Jazz are behind by 1.0 games, and we're going to need to win out in order to make it. That means beating a tired Minny team in 2 nights on the road (possible, esp if more of their dudes sit), and then winning a tough game against Memphis in their gym. It's something we can do, especially if the Race for #3 is solved before then. The Lakers have no bench, and just lost Kobe. They have two games at home (so refs, yeah, we get it), and they'll face the Spurs and then the Rockets. It's possible for LA to lose all of those games, meaning we only have to go for one more win. That said, if the Lakers manage to WIN one game (and guys seem to get up to play if one of their stars go down) then we have to win both of ours.