NBA Playoff Picture Update: Grizzlies hold on to No. 2 for another day
With just one week remaining until the NBA postseason, every night can impact the standings. The NBA Playoff Picture Update keeps you up to date on all the most important news for all 16 berths and seeds.
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The Name of This Blog: The race for the No. 2 seed in the West could come down to tiebreakers, but the real margin might be a matter of inches. Our rundown of Friday’s standings-shifting results starts in Salt Lake City, where the Memphis Grizzlies led the Utah Jazz 99-96 on the final possession of the game. Gordon Hayward got an opportunity for the tie from the corner but appeared to be blocked by Marc Gasol. However, referees called a foul, sending Hayward to the line for three free throws. You can watch video of the play in the highlights here …
… or check out this screengrab to see if he got ball. It looks like he did:
Zach Randolph seemed to agree (via EOB):
Luckily, Hayward saved us all from our shock. After hitting the first two freebies, Hayward missed the third and final to end the game and hand Memphis a 99-98 victory. Gasol (22 points) and Beno Udrih (20 points on 9-of-13 FG) led the way for the Grizzlies, while Hayward can take solace in his game-high 27 points.
This result keeps the Grizzlies a half-game ahead of the competition in the race for the No. 2 seed in the West, and results elsewhere also put the Grizzlies in very good shape to win all but one of the possible tiebreakers. (We’ll get into why that’s the case in the next section of this post.)
Foul Play: The marquee game of the night (and really the entire last week of the regular season) clarifies this race considerably, even if it’s still pretty complicated. The San Antonio Spurs won their 10th straight game and leaped over the Houston Rockets in the standings with a 104-103 victory. Tim Duncan blocked James Harden on the game’s final play to preserve the win, but the bigger story was the Spurs’ tactic of fouling Josh Smith off the ball 13 times in the second half. Smith hit just 12 of his 26 free-throw attempts as the Spurs managed to transcend that lack of flow with solid offensive execution at the other end. It wasn’t especially exciting to watch, but San Antonio proved that they’re one of top few title contenders after some struggles earlier this season.
The Spurs have now switched spots with the Rockets — San Antonio is in third and Houston is in sixth. At 54-26, the Spurs are a half-game behind the Grizzlies by virtue of having one more loss. The Rockets are just a game behind the Grizzlies at 53-26 and are tied with the No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers, who have already clinched that tiebreaker with a superior conference record.
The tiebreakers for the Southwest title are a bit more complicated. Memphis would now win a two-team tiebreaker against both the Spurs (because of in-conference record) and the Rockets (because of in-division record). But the Spurs would now win any three-way tiebreaker because of their superior head-to-head record. Of course, it’s also possible that none of these teams will take the No. 2 seed — the Clippers are also just one game behind the Grizzlies and play them on Saturday.
Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: The West’s race for the final playoff spot involves the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder, tied in the standings but separated by the Pelican’s advantage in the season series. That’s still the case — both won on Friday to stay even (but not) at 43-36. The Pelicans dispatched the Phoenix Suns 90-75 behind 19 points and nine rebounds from Anthony Davis, who received something of a scare in the second quarter when he had to leave the game after being hit in the throat. He returned, though, and New Orleans controls its own destiny with games left to play at Houston, at Minnesota, and at San Antonio.
OKC did its part with an expected home 116-103 home win over the Sacramento Kings. Russell Westbrook, Enes Kanter, and Dion Waiters all scored at least 22 points as the Thunder turned it over just six times. With three games remaining at Indiana, vs. Portland, and at Minnesota, the Thunder appear to have a much easier schedule and could easily win out to force the Pelicans to beat two very good teams.
A Feast for Crows: The East is still trying to figure out which teams will be used as ritual sacrifices for the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, with four teams currently vying for the honor. Three of them played on Friday — the Miami Heat were idle — and all three won.
Let’s start with the Boston Celtics, who entered the day in seventh place but seemed to have the toughest opponent in the Cavs. It ended being a lot easier, though, when Kyrie Irving was ruled out of the contest, although LeBron James played despite early reports that he would miss it. No matter — the Celtics did just fine and saw five players score at least 12 points in a 99-90 win. LeBron played just 26 minutes and struggled to 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
The eighth-place Brooklyn Nets also got a break when the Washington Wizards decided to rest star point guard John Wall for their matchup at the Barclays Center. The hosts took advantage and cruised to a 117-80 win that was never especially close and got a whole lot uglier during a 42-18 fourth quarter. Brook Lopez led the way with 26 points on 12-of-22 shooting, strengthening his case as the MVP of this race, an award that does not actually exist.
Stuck in ninth place, the Indiana Pacers nevertheless kept moving along with a 107-103 road win over the Detroit Pistons. They are one game back of the Celtics and Nets and still have to play the Thunder, Wizards, and Grizzlies, so they have their work cut out for them.
Spoiler Alert: The Toronto Raptors avoided the fate of their rivals for the East’s No. 3 seed in Orlando. One game after beating the Chicago Bulls on a late game-winner, Victor Oladipo put Orlando up on Toronto with this three-pointer:
However, Lou Williams followed it with the eventual winner on the next possession:
The Raptors’ 101-99 win draws them even with the Bulls at 47-32. Despite losing all four games to Chicago this season, Toronto holds the tiebreaker advantage after winning the Atlantic Division.
Quickly: The Milwaukee Bucks beat the New York Knicks 99-91 and are now just a win away from clinching a playoff spot. This Giannis Antetokounmpo block and dunk at the other end is worth a look:
The Hawks crushed the Charlotte Hornets 104-80 to eliminate them from playoff contention. … The Dallas Mavericks are locked into the West’s No. 7 seed, so their 144-143 double-overtime win over the Denver Nuggets is notable mostly as a curiosity. But it was very curious — Danilo Gallinari scored a career-high 47 points but could not handle the clutch heroics of Raymond Felton, who scored the winning lay-up in the closing seconds and blocked Kenneth Faried’s potential game-winner on the final play. Yes, you read that correctly:
I can’t explain it either.
Saturday’s Most Important Games
There are just six games on the docket, but these two deserve your attention.
Raptors at Heat, 7:30 p.m. ET: The Heat need a win to move within 1 1/2 games of the Celtics and Nets, so this is essentially a must-win for them. The Raptors can get by without a win but would surely benefit from it, especially with the Bulls visiting the Philadelphia 76ers for an 8:00 p.m. tipoff.
Grizzlies at Clippers, 10:00 p.m. ET: The new biggest game of the rest of the regular season. If the Clippers win, they’ll tie the Grizzlies 2-2 in the season series, move into sole possession of the No. 2 seed at a half-game ahead of the Spurs, and put themselves in much better shape to finish with a superior record to the eventual Southwest champ. The Grizzlies need a win to avoid dropping to the No. 5 seed, although they’d still hold homecourt advantage in the first round over the Northwest champ Portland Trail Blazers.
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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!
