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NBA Playoffs and/or Lottery seeding roundup -- While you were sleeping March 5th, 2014

All of the good, bad, and meh things that happened in the races we care about.

By AllThatAmar
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

So now that we're tracking both the playoffs (the usual) and the lotto (the new) we have an expanded "While you were sleeping" schedule to track. Here was all the action from last night:

Wyws_-_favors_good

  • The Jazz lost to the Wizards, which is what we expected, and what happened on the same night that . .
  • . . . The Knicks beat the Timberwolves . . .
  • . . . and the Kings beat the Bucks . . .
  • Which means that we flipped over those two teams (NYK and SAC) and are currently tied with LAL at 8.5 games behind the Bucks.

.

Wyws_-_favors_bad

  • The Warriors beat the Celtics, also something we expected, but on the same night as . . .
  • . . . the Mavericks losing to the Nuggets . . .
  • . . . and the Grizzlies losing to the Nets . . .
  • . . . and the Timberwolves losing to the Knicks.
  • I used the MIN/NYK game in both sections, but overall it's better that the Knicks won so maybe I shouldn't mention it. But right now the Warriors are pulling away. They are now 2.0 games up against PHX and DAL, and 3.0 games up against MEM. It was a lot closer the day before, and the day before that.

.

Wyws_-_favors_meh

  • The Magic lost to the Rockets, big whoop.
  • The Pistons lost to the Bulls, another 4th quarter collapse.
  • The Hawks lost to the Trail Blazers.
  • And the Bobcats beat the Pacers . . . what is up with that team?

Trading Places:

  1. The Jazz moved up to #5/6 or whatever depending on coin flips from #8.
  2. The Nets and Timberwolves traded places near the bottom.
  3. The Suns leapfrogged the floundering Mavericks.

The Big Board:

Record Last 10 Remaining Standings Game Result
Team W L % GB W L % Gm v20 v10 Seed Lotto Last Next
1 Milwaukee Bucks 12 48 20% 0.0 3 7 30% 22 12 6 East 15 1 vs SAC L
2 Philadelphia 76ers 15 46 25% 2.5 0 10 0% 21 13 7 East 14 2
3 Orlando Magic 19 44 30% 5.5 3 7 30% 19 12 4 East 13 3 vs HOU L
4 Boston Celtics 20 41 33% 7.5 2 8 20% 21 14 6 East 12 4 vs GSW L
5 Los Angeles Lakers 21 40 34% 8.5 3 7 30% 21 11 5 West 15 5
6 Utah Jazz 21 40 34% 8.5 3 7 30% 21 16 6 West 14 6 @ WAS L
7 New York Knicks 22 40 35% 9.0 2 8 20% 20 14 10 East 11 7 3* @ MIN W
8 Sacramento Kings 22 39 36% 9.5 5 5 50% 21 14 5 West 13 8 @ MIL W
9 Cleveland Cavaliers 24 38 39% 11.0 5 5 50% 20 14 7 East 10 9
10 New Orleans Pelicans 24 37 39% 11.5 2 8 20% 21 11 6 West 12 10
11 Detroit Pistons 24 37 39% 11.5 2 8 20% 21 13 8 East 9 11 vs CHI L
12 Denver Nuggets 26 34 43% 14.0 2 8 20% 22 13 4 West 11 12 4* vs DAL W
13 Atlanta Hawks 26 33 44% 14.5 1 9 10% 23 15 7 East 8 @ POR L
14 Charlotte Bobcats 28 33 46% 15.5 6 4 60% 21 16 8 East 7 vs IND W
15 Minnesota Timberwolves 30 30 50% 18.0 6 4 60% 22 16 8 West 10 13 vs NYK L
16 Brooklyn Nets 30 29 51% 18.5 7 3 70% 23 18 11 East 6 1* vs MEM W
17 Memphis Grizzlies 34 26 57% 22.0 7 3 70% 22 14 5 West 9 14 @ BKN L
18 Dallas Mavericks 36 26 58% 23.0 6 4 60% 20 14 6 West 8 @ DEN L
19 Phoenix Suns 35 25 58% 23.0 5 5 50% 22 14 7 West 7 vs OKC
20 Golden State Warriors 38 24 61% 25.0 7 3 70% 20 16 8 West 6 2* @ BOS W
1* - ATL has right to swap picks with BKN
2* - UTA owns GSW pick
3* - DEN owns NYK pick
4* - DEN owes ORL their lower of their two 1st round picks

Tonight's Action:

There are only 6 teams playing tonight, and only one of the three games matters here.

  • Thunder vs Suns -- Phoenix has 22 games left, and if the Warriors are going to go down, they're going to have to win some tough games. Only 7 of Phoenix's remaining games are against easy teams. Tonight, at home against OKC, is going to be a test.

As for the Jazz, we're kind of in the driver's seat if we want a lot of ping pong balls. There are two more games on this road trip @ Knicks and @ 76ers. Both are bad teams, but we're playing very poorly right now. Something has to give. The reward for the six games in nine nights trip will be a three game home stand vs. Hawks, vs. Mavericks, vs. Clippers; and then a three game road trip @ Spurs, @ Rockets, @ Grizzlies. As Wiggum said:


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