NBA Playoff Picture: Cleveland can’t clinch, Bulls still alive
With less than a week left in the NBA’s regular season, several games per night make a big difference in the fights for playoff berths and seeding. This post catches you up on everything that matters to these races.
GAMES THAT MATTERED A LOT
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Chicago shows a pulse: In a day that started with Fred Hoiberg admitting to take a page out of Johnny Bach and Phil Jackson’s playbook and insert movie dialogue into game tape …
… and one that also featured the same coach pinning the start of his team’s spiral on the attention star guard Jimmy Butler drew after criticizing the coaching staff following a loss …
… the Bulls somehow managed to come back to beat the Eastern-leading Cleveland Cavaliers by a 105-102 score. Brazilian rookie big man Cristiano Felicio made all seven of his shots from the field and both free throws to score 16 bench points in 24 minutes, adding five rebounds, two blocks and most importantly a bit of drive for a Bulls team that played listlessly in the first and third quarters.
That tepid play would seem to be a surprise, as Chicago needed a win to keep its playoff hopes alive, but this has been a hallmark of the team all season. It’s a season that has seen the Bulls take three of four games from Cleveland and all of its contests against No. 2 Toronto, but crumple in a heap in the face of far lesser opponents. This is why the Bulls are stuck at 40-40.
They’ll have two of those lesser opponents – the injured Pelicans and league-worst 76ers – on tap to close out the season, but just one win in three tries from Indiana and Chicago is eliminated. The Pacers have three lottery teams ahead of them in Brooklyn, New York and Milwaukee. If the two finish their seasons on a divergent path, the 42-win Bulls would pass the 42-win Pacers by way of an in-season tiebreaker.
If the Bulls really wanted to keep this up, they’d watch as the Pacers drop all three prior to Chicago losing to a (expectedly) 10-71 Philadelphia team on its final night of what has been an embarrassment of a season.
Golden State, not bad at all: The Memphis Grizzlies seemed to not only have the matchup advantages but also the momentum and hot hand on Saturday night. There was even a question, with the Grizzlies creating a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, as to whether Golden State coach Steve Kerr would re-enter All-Stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green into the game.
The two came back, and Green in particular went on a roll offensively while dominating Zach Randolph on the other end as the defending champs eked out a one-point win in Memphis. The win didn’t affect Golden State’s playoff standing, they’ve already clinched the top seed in the West, but it did allow Golden State to chase down the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record for wins in a season. Two more victories against San Antonio and Memphis again to close the season will be enough.
The loss is a bit tougher for the Grizz.
Not only did they fail to mete out some form of revenge against Golden State, the team that beat them by a combined 66 points in the previous two meetings, but they left themselves vulnerable to drop out of the sixth spot in the West and the ability to miss San Antonio in the first round. The heavily-injured team is working with a series of minimum-salaried players, and there is a chance its next two opponents could rest their starters, but wins in Los Angeles against the Clippers and against these Warriors to finish the season are no guarantee.
Memphis is a half-game up on Dallas, and the Mavs have the Jazz, Clippers and resting Spurs left to close their season. The Mavericks also own the tiebreaker against the Grizzlies.
Atlanta minds the fort: Oh, the Hawks tried to give it away – the team could not defend to save its life against Boston in the first half (the C’s finished with 71 points in the first 24 minutes) and turned the ball over eight times in the third quarter, but the league’s second-rated defense managed to lock things down in the second half in time for the 118-107 win.
The victory means the Hawks are now a full game up on the Celtics for the third seed in the East, and Atlanta has Paul Millsap to thank. The forward contributed 31 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks, three assists and two steals in the win.
The C’s can still grab the third seed if it downs Charlotte and Miami to end its season, and Atlanta loses out – but the Hawks will be working against teams in Cleveland and Washington with little to play for at this point, with their status assured. Atlanta also owns the tiebreaker.
Minnesota goes a’spoilin: It was clear from the outset that Minnesota had all it needed to hang with the Trail Blazers in Portland on Saturday night, but with Portland attempting to pull a full game up on the Grizzlies with the West’s fifth seed in the wake of Memphis’ loss, it was just assumed that the Blazers would pull things out at home.
Especially at home. And especially after a desperate four-point play from Damian Lillard put Portland up by one with three seconds left in the game.
Karl-Anthony Towns, however, was afforded about the clearest path possible on his way toward his first NBA game-winner:
The shot capped off KAT’s 27-point, nine-rebound, two-block performance, as the Grizzlies are still just a half-game in back of the Blazers.
GAMES THAT MATTERED TO MATH
No seeds were clinched nor lost on Saturday night, as Cleveland failed to secure the East, and Memphis and Portland still have a long way to go to determine their standing. The same goes for Atlanta and the triptych (Boston, Miami, Charlotte) that sits just behind it in the East, but the Hawks went a long way toward making the third seed its own with Saturday’s win.
SUNDAY’S BIGGEST GAMES
Presuming the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs play their starters (or, at least, the lineups they feel give them the best chance to win; centers Andrew Bogut and Tim Duncan could come off the bench), as has been promised, their contest will far and away act as Sunday’s biggest contest.
However, the two teams long ago clinched the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the West, and there is always the good chance that a set of nerves (even with these recent champions) could set in as NBA TV lines up its cameras at 7 ET. Though all eyes will be on this game as Golden State shoots for a record-tying 72 wins, it has no playoff bearing besides stylistic scouting choices to keep on tape.
Charlotte Hornets at Washington Wizards, 12:00 p.m. ET: Playing a noon contest in front of what will likely be a listless and disappointed Washington crowd seems rather unforgiving for the Hornets as they try to track down what could still be as high as the third seed in its bounce back season. A win puts Charlotte (by midday, anyway) a half game up on the Heat and tied with Boston for the fourth seed. The Wizards are out of the playoffs, have lost two of three to Charlotte this season, and were trampled without John Wall in the lineup on Friday night.
Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Clippers, 3:30 p.m. ET: Dallas has yet to officially clinch a playoff berth, but even with its muddied injury situation it’s hard to see the Houston Rockets (losers of two straight) making a three-game jump in order to leapfrog what would have to be a struggling Mavericks game. As with the game detailed above, the early local start will probably play into a veteran Clipper team going through the motions, as their fourth-seeded status is assured.
Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets, 5:00 p.m. ET: This is a big one, as Utah disappointed us all on Friday with a loss to the Clippers. Denver is out of the playoffs and they have lost five of seven, but they will compete and this win is no sure thing for the Jazz. What is closer to a sure thing is a Rocket win over the Lakers a little earlier on Sunday, as Utah could enter tip-off knowing that they’re about an hour away from being just a half-game up on Houston (who is playing at home).
Brooklyn Nets at Indiana Pacers, 6:00 p.m. ET: If the Pacers win this game, they’ll have earned their first playoff berth since grabbing the East’s best record back in 2013-14. The Nets are one of the league’s worst teams and they’ve lost twice already to Indiana, but the team’s last win came on March 26 when BKN dropped 120 points on Frank Vogel’s crew. The Pacers still have two other chances to earn the No. 8 seed with a win (to say nothing of Chicago’s propensity for losing games they shouldn’t), but let’s just get done now, guys.
Orlando Magic at Miami Heat, 6:00 p.m. ET: The Magic are out of the playoff picture, but as Eric Freeman noted after Friday night the team has done well to play the spoiler and make sure the dimples in their disappointing season are turning up. The team started the season with a 19-13 turn and have now won five of seven in the season’s waning days. Miami, who is tied with Charlotte for the fifth spot in the East (prior to the Hornets’ noon tipoff) is likely still smarting from Friday’s close loss to its in-state rival. A win would leave it tied for fourth in the East with Boston. And possibly Charlotte.
Still, if you haven’t clicked away from this game at halftime to watch the Spurs and Warriors, there is something wrong with you.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
