NBA Playoff Picture Update: Warriors come out, play, clinch top seed
With just a few weeks remaining until the NBA postseason, every night can impact the standings. NBA Playoff Picture keeps you up to date on all the most important news for all 16 berths and seeds.
Wonderful Warriors: With a 108-95 win at the Milwaukee Bucks, the Golden State Warriors have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and will have homecourt advantage in every playoff series at least until the NBA Finals. The team’s 60th win also broke a franchise record for victories previously set in 1975-76, the last time they finished with the conference’s best record.
MVP candidate Steph Curry led the way with 25 points on 8-of-13 FG and 6-of-9 3FG, drawing to within 25 of his record for most triples in a single season. That mark is in sight with nine games left, but it’s unclear how much Curry will play with the team’s regular season goals already met.
The Bucks’ loss dropped them to 2 1/2 games ahead of the Miami Heat for sixth in the East, a notable race if only because it will help the better team avoid the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. Milwaukee’s next three games are against teams currently in the playoffs — at Atlanta, vs. Chicago, at Boston — so they could very well lose their spot with only nine games remaining.
Allergic to Hornets: One day after clinching the top seed in the East, the Atlanta Hawks rested all their starters and were not surprisingly beaten handily by the Charlotte Hornets 115-100. The loss only matters to Atlanta insofar as it pushes them five games back of the Warriors for the best record in the NBA, although that only really makes a difference if those two teams meet in June. My guess is that the Hawks will take their chances there.
However, the win does mean a lot to the Hornets, who are still way back in 11th place but just a game behind the Boston Celtics in the race for No. 8. The hosts apparently appreciate the Hawks’ second-best effort — they shot 52.5 percent from the field and 12-of-26 from beyond the arc even though the hobbled Al Jefferson only played 17 minutes. Monday’s matchup with the Celtics will probably be a little more competitive.
Not So Fun: The Thunder remain in a strong position to claim the last playoff spot in the West, but they certainly aren’t inspiring a ton of confidence along the way. The Utah Jazz held them to 34 points combined over the second and third quarters on their way to a 94-89 win. Russell Westbrook scored his now-customary 37 points but needed 29 shots to get there, and Utah forced 23 turnovers to help make up for their own 38.1 percent shooting.
But the big story from this game came before it, when former Jazz big man Enes Kanter declared that he was extremely frustrated during his 3 1/2 years in Salt Lake City and finally feels like he’s on a real professional team in OKC. His point of view makes a great deal of sense, especially when you consider that Utah chose Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors over him as building blocks, but it was also perhaps not the best collection of statements to give before a triumphant return. Kanter had a nice game — 18 points and 11 rebounds — but the loss is not going to make him look any better.
Blaze of Glory: The Portland Trail Blazers inched closer to clinching a playoff berth with a 120-114 win over the Denver Nuggets. The win matters most in that it brings them just a half-game back of the Los Angeles Clippers for homecourt advantage in a hypothetical first-round matchup. The Blazers will clinch the fourth seed whenever they win the Northwest Division (a foregone conclusion), but a very tight race with the Clippers and San Antonio Spurs makes their end-of-season experience much more complicated.
Quickly: The Chicago Bulls beat the comatose New York Knicks 111-80, thereby moving 1 1/2 games up on Toronto for the No. 3 seed. The result is much more notable for serving as the Knicks’ 60th loss, a new franchise record.
Sunday’s Most Important Games
There are nine games in all, and more than half of them involve two teams with playoff aspirations.
Rockets at Wizards, 12:30 p.m. ET: A Houston win would allow them to draw even with the Memphis Grizzlies for second-place in the West for at least a few hours. It’s also worth keeping an eye on their progress to see the progress of Dwight Howard, who will be playing just his third game since returning from a two-month spell on the sidelines. Washington can bring them to within 1 1/2 games of the Toronto Raptors for fourth place, which would decide homecourt advantage in a first round series.
Clippers at Celtics, 6:00 p.m. ET: The Celtics need a win to stay in sole possession of eighth in the East. Meanwhile, the Clippers cannot fall out of fifth place but would draw even with the Portland Trail Blazers for homecourt advantage with a loss.
Grizzlies at Spurs, 7:00 p.m. ET: A Spurs win and a Clippers loss would bring the defending champions to just a half-game back of the No. 5 seed and its attendant chance at homecourt advantage vs. the Blazers, but this one means a lot more to the Grizzlies. If the Rockets win earlier in the day, then the Grizzlies will need their own victory in order to not fall into third. On a less specific level, they need a strong showing after two home blowout losses to the Cavs and Warriors. Otherwise, it might be tough to name the Grizzlies as a legitimate title contender.
Mavericks at Pacers, 7:00 p.m. ET: An Indiana win would couple with a Boston loss to create a tie for eighth, although it would be broken (for now) by the Celtics’ 2-1 advantage in the season series. The Mavericks can get themselves back to within a half-game of the Spurs if they and the Grizzlies both win.
Thunder at Suns, 9:00 p.m. ET: A Thunder win would push the Suns four games back of eighth and all but eliminate them from the race. Perhaps most importantly, we could stop mentioning them in these recaps for at least a few days.
– – – – – – –
Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
