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Everything sucks. Well, not everything. Just everything went wrong in the basketball world last night for me and my "predictions". Anyway, I'm here to detail which teams moved up in the NBA Draft lottery standings, and which teams solidified their place in the NBA Playoffs race.
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What happened last night?
| Winner | Loser | Commentary | ||||||||||
| 1 | CHA | East | 11 | 92 | - | PHI | East | 14 | 91 | No Al Jefferson, no problem | ||
| 2 | BOS | East | 9 | 117 | - | TOR | East | 4 | 116 | DeMar DeRozan's 38 not enough to get OT win | ||
| 3 | DET | East | 12 | 99 | - | MIA | East | 8 | 98 | Reggie Jackson drops 29 and 11 on Goran Dragic | ||
| 4 | ATL | East | 1 | 131 | - | BKN | East | 7 | 99 | Atlanta. Had. Forty. Assists. | ||
| 5 | WAS | East | 5 | 92 | - | MEM | West | 3 | 83 | Huge game for our pick in 2017 | ||
| 6 | ORL | East | 13 | 97 | - | MIL | East | 6 | 90 | So far ever East team I expected to lose decided to win | ||
| 7 | GSW | West | 1 | 123 | - | DAL | West | 7 | 110 | Steve Kerr makes coaching history with 63rd win as rookie | ||
| 8 | LAC | West | 5 | 107 | - | DEN | West | 12 | 92 | Somehow Randy Foye 's 14 not enough to get it done | ||
| 9 | POR | West | 4 | 99 | - | NOP | West | 9 | 90 | LaMarcus Aldridge vs. Anthony Davis was worth it | ||
| 10 | PHX | West | 10 | 87 | - | UTA | West | 10 | 85 | Such a bad way to end this game. | ||
The Jazz loss to the Suns is pretty much the season for me. There's no race now. Just play the games, don't get hurt. Wait till next year.
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NBA Draft Lottery standings:
Okay, so there's very little movement at all in the Top 8 spots here night in and night out. After that it's a change every single day. Boston went from #11 to #13, and Phoenix went from #15 to #16, essentially flip-flopping with Milwaukee that went a spot down. (Milwaukee and Phoenix flip flopped the night before). In the wake of Boston going from 2.9% for a Top 3 pick to being a playoff team that means that Miami dropped into the Lotto (which has future pick implications), and the Jazz are now almost at 3% for a Top 3 pick. Whoop-dee-damn-doo, as Derrick Coleman once said.
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Western Conference standings:
| Team | W | L | % | GB | GL | Streak | Last Night | Tonight | |||||||||||
| 1 | Warriors | z | 63 | - | 13 | 82.89% | 0.0 | 6 | 12 | @ | DAL | W | @ | SAS | |||||
| 2 | Rockets | x | 52 | - | 24 | 68.42% | 11.0 | 6 | 2 | @ | OKC | ||||||||
| 3 | Grizzlies | x | 52 | - | 25 | 67.53% | 11.5 | 5 | -1 | vs | WAS | L | |||||||
| 4 | Trail Blazers | y | 50 | - | 26 | 65.79% | 13.0 | 6 | 2 | vs | NOP | W | |||||||
| 5 | Clippers | x | 51 | - | 26 | 66.23% | 12.5 | 5 | 2 | @ | DEN | W | @ | LAL | |||||
| 6 | Spurs | x | 50 | - | 26 | 65.79% | 13.0 | 6 | 6 | vs | GSW | ||||||||
| 7 | Mavericks | 46 | - | 31 | 59.74% | 17.5 | 5 | -2 | vs | GSW | L | ||||||||
| 8 | Thunder | 42 | - | 34 | 55.26% | 21.0 | 6 | -2 | vs | HOU | |||||||||
| 9 | Pelicans | 41 | - | 35 | 53.95% | 22.0 | 6 | -1 | @ | POR | L | ||||||||
| 10 | Suns | 39 | - | 38 | 50.65% | 24.5 | 5 | 1 | vs | UTA | W | ||||||||
| 11 | Jazz | 34 | - | 42 | 44.74% | 29.0 | 6 | -1 | @ | PHX | L | @ | SAC | ||||||
| 12 | Nuggets | 28 | - | 49 | 36.36% | 35.5 | 5 | -4 | vs | LAC | L | ||||||||
| 13 | Kings | 26 | - | 49 | 34.67% | 36.5 | 7 | -4 | vs | UTA | |||||||||
| 14 | Lakers | 20 | - | 55 | 26.67% | 42.5 | 7 | -2 | vs | LAC | |||||||||
| 15 | Timberwolves | 16 | - | 60 | 21.05% | 47.0 | 6 | -6 | |||||||||||
| z - Clinched Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| y - Clinched Division | |||||||||||||||||||
| x - Clinched Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||
Golden State clinched homecourt in every round if they get to every round. The Grizz losing to the Wizz messes up some of our future picks from OKC, but hey, that's what happens. There are now, on average, 5.8 games remaining to be played by the 15 teams in the West. And despite there being only 6.5 games between #2 seed and #7 seed I don't know how much movement we're going to actually see. The Spurs have a chance to do some damage, but for the most part I think we see each team winning just about as many games as every other team.
In the non-playoffs race the Jazz loss to the Suns last night pretty much ends it for that little honorable mention, moral victory. Utah had a chance to catch and surpass them this season, but too many dumb losses got in the way. Home losses to the Magic, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Boston stick out. I really think the Jazz should have won last night, but did not. And as a result the team is too far back now to catch Phoenix.
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Tonight's games:
| Road | Home | Commentary | ||||||
| 1 | HOU | West | 2 | @ | OKC | West | 8 | James Harden revenge time? |
| 2 | CHI | East | 3 | @ | CLE | East | 2 | Bulls to try to snap Cavalier's long home win streak |
| 3 | MIA | East | 9 | @ | IND | East | 10 | Paul George is going to play in this game! |
| 4 | GSW | West | 1 | @ | SAS | West | 6 | Best of the West this year vs. Best of the West last year |
| 5 | PHI | East | 14 | @ | NYK | East | 15 | Two bad teams. |
| 6 | UTA | West | 11 | @ | SAC | West | 13 | Probably Sim Bhullar's first game of his career |
| 7 | LAC | West | 5 | @ | LAL | West | 14 | LOL. |
Personally, the PHI @ NYK game is going to be hilarious. DVR that one.
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If the Jazz lose to the Kings tonight I'm going to be pretty bummed out.