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There were only seven games in the NBA last night, but there were still enough changes in both the NBA Playoff standings and the NBA Draft Lottery race. Check it all out:
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What happened last night?
| Winner | Loser | Commentary | ||||||||||
| 1 | BOS | East | 9 | 116 | - | CHA | East | 11 | 104 | Ultimately a Big Al, Molo, Marv team isn't good out East | ||
| 2 | LAL | West | 14 | 113 | - | PHI | East | 14 | 111 | Overtime win hurts Los Angeles, ha ha ha ha ha | ||
| 3 | TOR | East | 4 | 99 | - | HOU | West | 2 | 96 | DeMar DeRozan 's 42 > James Harden 's 31 | ||
| 4 | ATL | East | 1 | 101 | - | MIL | East | 6 | 88 | Atlanta is just the class of the Eastern Conference | ||
| 5 | MEM | West | 3 | 97 | - | SAC | West | 13 | 83 | Memphis stops three game losing streak | ||
| 6 | UTA | West | 11 | 104 | - | MIN | West | 15 | 84 | Both teams got what they wanted tonight | ||
| 7 | POR | West | 4 | 109 | - | PHX | West | 10 | 86 | Portland clinches playoff spot with win | ||
I really think that Charlotte sucks. They are the living proof of what holding onto a lot of our "vetz" would have gotten us, a team that's 11st in a worse conference. LA winning in OT is hilarious, the tank struggle is real. Oh, and Utah won while Phoenix didn't. Goody goody gumdrops.
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NBA Draft Lottery standings:
Nothing changed in the Top 9 spots in the lotto, but all heck broke lose from #10 to #13. The Jazz dropped three spots, and went from 4.0% of a Top 3 pick down to only 2.5%. Brooklyn went up 2 spots, and Indiana went up 1. There was no change after that either.
So we see a consistent push by the worst teams to stay bad, and some level of moment by the last 4 or 5 riders trying to make it into the lotto. (For the most part, most of these teams don't want to be in the lotto.)
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Western Conference standings:
| Team | W | L | % | GB | GL | Streak | Last Night | Tonight | |||||||||||
| 1 | Warriors | z | 60 | - | 13 | 82.19% | 0.0 | 9 | 9 | @ | LAC | ||||||||
| 2 | Grizzlies | x | 51 | - | 24 | 68.00% | 10.0 | 7 | 1 | vs | SAC | W | |||||||
| 3 | Rockets | x | 50 | 24 | 67.57% | 10.5 | 8 | -1 | @ | TOR | L | ||||||||
| 4 | Trail Blazers | x | 48 | - | 25 | 65.75% | 12.0 | 9 | 4 | vs | PHX | W | |||||||
| 5 | Clippers | x | 49 | - | 25 | 66.22% | 11.5 | 8 | 7 | vs | GSW | ||||||||
| 6 | Spurs | 47 | - | 26 | 64.38% | 13.0 | 9 | 3 | @ | MIA | |||||||||
| 7 | Mavericks | 45 | - | 29 | 60.81% | 15.5 | 8 | -2 | |||||||||||
| 8 | Thunder | 42 | - | 32 | 56.76% | 18.5 | 8 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 9 | Pelicans | 39 | - | 34 | 53.42% | 21.0 | 9 | 2 | |||||||||||
| 10 | Suns | 38 | - | 37 | 50.67% | 23.0 | 7 | -4 | @ | POR | L | ||||||||
| 11 | Jazz | 33 | - | 41 | 44.59% | 27.5 | 8 | 2 | @ | MIN | W | ||||||||
| 12 | Nuggets | 28 | - | 46 | 37.84% | 32.5 | 8 | -1 | |||||||||||
| 13 | Kings | 26 | - | 47 | 35.62% | 34.0 | 9 | -2 | @ | MEM | L | ||||||||
| 14 | Lakers | 20 | - | 53 | 27.40% | 40.0 | 9 | 1 | @ | PHI | W | ||||||||
| 15 | Timberwolves | 16 | - | 58 | 21.62% | 44.5 | 8 | -4 | vs | UTA | L | ||||||||
| z - Clinched Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| y - Clinched Division | |||||||||||||||||||
| x - Clinched Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||
The Grizz won and the Rox didn't, so they flip flopped at the #2 and #3 spots for the second night in a row. The West playoff race is going to be like this for the next two weeks, as the #2 and #7 seeds are separated by just 5.5 games. In other news, the Jazz are now 4.5 games behind the Suns. It can still happen!
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Tonight's game:
| Road | Home | Commentary | ||||||
| 1 | IND | East | 10 | @ | BKN | East | 9 | This woulda been a great game 2-3 years ago |
| 2 | ATL | East | 1 | @ | DET | East | 12 | Can anyone (aside from GSW) stop Atlanta? |
| 3 | SAS | West | 6 | @ | MIA | East | 7 | Former NBA Finals match-up |
| 4 | GSW | West | 1 | @ | LAC | West | 5 | Warriors 60 wins is a FRANCHISE record, lol |
So, pretty much only the last two games matter. The Spurs are climbing up in the West, if the Dubs win again then that closes the gap between the #5 and #6 a bit. No one is safe with the Spurs at their backs.
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Only eight more games for the Jazz this season. Wow.