Good morning, Jazzland. Last night was an action-packed, totally loaded slate of NBA games. Okay, there were actually only three, but some really good stuff happened.

AllThatAmar

The Good News:

[9] Portland Trailblazers beat the [7] Oklahoma City Thunder 126-121.

Russell Westbrook hung 58 on the Blazers, but Damian Lillard, Allen Crabbe and C.J. McCollum combined for 66. Every other Thunder player not named Russell Westbrook Westbricked their way to 63, and it wasn’t quite enough. This is good for the Utah Jazz, because Oklahoma City currently has the tiebreaker with one more head-to-head match-up to go. The Thunder are talented, and the Jazz can use all the help they can get.

The Bad News:

Nothing bad happened last night for the Jazz. Hooray!

The Meh News:

[10] Dallas Mavericks beat the [15] Los Angeles Lakers 122-111

The Washington Wizards beat the [14] Phoenix Suns 131-127

I was tempted to file the Mavs-Lakers score under Good News, because I love seeing the Lakers lose so much. It really belongs here, though. Dallas is gunning for the 8th spot, and aren’t going to get any higher than that. They’re not a threat to the Jazz, but they’re now .5 games back from Portland and two behind the current 8th-seeded Denver Nuggets.

The Suns are out of the mix. They’re basically in tank mode now.

Tonight’s Matchups:

Boston Celtics at [1] Golden State Warriors – go Warriors!

Washington Wizards at [8] Denver Nuggets – Go Nuggets!

Toronto Raptors at [13] New Orleans Pelicans – LOL Boogie

[5] Los Angeles Clippers at [11] Minnesota Timberwolves – Go Timberwolves!

[12] Sacramento Kings at [2] San Antonio Spurs – Go Spurs!

Remember, we want the Spurs and Warriors to win in hopes that they’ll rest some of their starters when we play them at the end of the season, when we’re still presumably jockeying for playoff positioning. Just a friendly reminder. Oh, one more thing:

[4] Utah Jazz at [3] Houston Rockets

This is gonna be tough. No Joe Johnson, George Hill, Derrick Favors or Shelvin Mack (darn, darn). Root hard against the Clippers, everyone.

#TakeNote