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Some minor and some major shakeups last night in the NBA Playoffs standings, and the NBA Draft lottery standings. Let's get to it!
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What happened last night?
| Winner | Loser | Commentary | ||||||||||
| 1 | CLE | East | 2 | 114 | - | MIA | East | 7 | 88 | Man. | ||
| 2 | HOU | West | 3 | 108 | - | DAL | West | 7 | 101 | No one can stop James Harden right now | ||
| 3 | GSW | West | 1 | 107 | - | PHX | West | 10 | 106 | Harrison Barnes redemption game winner!!! | ||
There were only three games last night, and they all went according to plan! Or something . . . despite trying really hard the Suns have now lost five games in a row. They will be super motivated on Saturday when these two teams play.
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NBA Draft Lottery standings:
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Not many games last night, so most of the standings did not change at all. There were two things that happened. So Miami and Brooklyn switched spots, the Nets have now won five games in a row. The Thunder and Wizards switched spots too, which is bad for the Jazz.
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Western Conference standings:
| Team | W | L | % | GB | GL | Streak | Last Night | Tonight | |||||||||||
| 1 | Warriors | z | 62 | - | 13 | 82.67% | 0.0 | 7 | 10 | vs | PHX | W | |||||||
| 2 | Rockets | x | 52 | - | 24 | 68.42% | 10.5 | 6 | 1 | @ | DAL | W | |||||||
| 3 | Grizzlies | x | 51 | 24 | 68.00% | 11.0 | 7 | 1 | vs | OKC | |||||||||
| 4 | Trail Blazers | x | 48 | - | 26 | 64.86% | 13.5 | 8 | -1 | @ | LAL | ||||||||
| 5 | Clippers | x | 50 | - | 26 | 65.79% | 12.5 | 6 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Spurs | x | 49 | - | 26 | 65.33% | 13.0 | 7 | 5 | vs | DEN | ||||||||
| 7 | Mavericks | 46 | - | 30 | 60.53% | 16.5 | 6 | 1 | vs | HOU | L | ||||||||
| 8 | Thunder | 42 | - | 33 | 56.00% | 20.0 | 7 | -1 | @ | MEM | |||||||||
| 9 | Pelicans | 40 | - | 34 | 54.05% | 21.5 | 8 | 3 | @ | SAC | |||||||||
| 10 | Suns | 38 | - | 38 | 50.00% | 24.5 | 6 | -4 | @ | GSW | L | ||||||||
| 11 | Jazz | 34 | - | 41 | 45.33% | 28.0 | 7 | 3 | |||||||||||
| 12 | Nuggets | 28 | - | 47 | 37.33% | 34.0 | 7 | -2 | @ | SAS | |||||||||
| 13 | Kings | 26 | - | 48 | 35.14% | 35.5 | 8 | -3 | vs | NOP | |||||||||
| 14 | Lakers | 20 | - | 54 | 27.03% | 41.5 | 8 | -1 | vs | POR | |||||||||
| 15 | Timberwolves | 16 | - | 59 | 21.33% | 46.0 | 7 | -5 | vs | ORL | |||||||||
| z - Clinched Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| y - Clinched Division | |||||||||||||||||||
| x - Clinched Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||
So with the Rockets win they jumped Memphis, and H-Town is now the #2 seed in the West. With an average of 7 games left for these 15 teams, the #2 and #7 spots are still divided by just 6.0 games. Utah is stealth creepin.
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Tonight's games:
| Road | Home | Commentary | ||||||
| 1 | CHA | East | 10 | @ | IND | East | 9 | This game will screw up my rankings a bit, I predict |
| 2 | NYK | East | 15 | @ | WAS | East | 5 | The easiest win there is |
| 3 | MIL | East | 6 | @ | BOS | East | 9 | Sadly, both of these teams just aren't there yet |
| 4 | TOR | East | 3 | @ | BKN | East | 7 | Winner gets Alonzo Mourning |
| 5 | OKC | West | 8 | @ | MEM | West | 3 | Huge game to see if OKC is for real or not |
| 6 | ORL | East | 13 | @ | MIN | West | 15 | Trivia: These two expansion teams started in same year |
| 7 | DET | East | 12 | @ | CHI | East | 4 | Can Michael Jordan get by Isiah Thomas and the Pistons? |
| 8 | DEN | West | 12 | @ | SAS | West | 6 | Gregg Popovich will school this team |
| 9 | NOP | West | 9 | @ | SAC | West | 13 | At least Anthony Davis won't be awarded +2.2 free blocks, as it's a road game |
| 10 | POR | West | 4 | @ | LAL | West | 14 | Blazers to get rare road win against Lakers. |
Game that matters tonight for the Jazz? It's OKC @ MEM -- OKC is tied with WAS right now, and Utah *needs* OKC to finish the season AHEAD of WAS, or just in general, finish #19 or above. Simply put, if they do not then the Jazz' chances of receiving two 2nd round picks instead of a 1st from the Enes Kanter / Steve Novak trade increase. WAS hosts NYK, and will likely win. OKC needs to keep pace with them.
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The good news is that it took a last second jumper to bring the Jazz to 3.5 games behind the Suns. SMALL VICTORIES!