NBA Playoff Picture: Mavs make it, Jazz get blues, Cavs grab No. 1
With just a few days 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.
The ayes of Texas: Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks, who clinched a playoff berth for the 15th time in 16 seasons Monday with a clutch 101-92 road win over the Utah Jazz. The Mavs can finish no worse than the No. 7 seed and could rise as high as No. 5 with a win in the finale and season-closing losses from the Memphis Grizzlies (twice) and Portland Trail Blazers (once). Wherever they end up, this season stands as a good one following this summer’s DeAndre Jordan fiasco and number of injuries to a veteran-laden roster.
The clinching victory was a picture of consistency. Dallas out-scored Utah in all four quarter, though without outright dominance — three by just two, and the other by three. That steadiness helped the Mavs get to as many as 15 halfway through the fourth, after which the Jazz looked unable to get back into things with so few creative options. Utah also suffered a serious loss in the second quarter when center Rudy Gobert left the game after tweaking his ankle. He was ruled questionable to return shortly after heading into the locker room:
The Mavericks relied on their vets throughout, with Deron Williams, Dirk Nowitzki, and Wesley Matthews all scoring at least 20 points while making at least half their attempts for a combined 65. The Jazz were far less balanced, getting 25 from Gordon Hayward while Rodney Hood struggled through a 1-of-11 night for six points.
Dallas probably isn’t going to make it all the way up to No. 5, but they have a decent shot to get up to No. 6. The Grizzlies lead by 1 1/2 games right now but face the Clippers and Warriors in their final two. The Mavs will close against the Spurs on Wednesday, but there’s a decent chance that Gregg Popovich will opt to rest key players with the No. 2 seed locked up. It would also be in San Antonio’s best interest to face an injury decimated Memphis group in the first round, and a loss to Dallas would increase the chances of that outcome.
Utah needs some help to claim the West’s final playoff berth after losing three of its last four. The Rockets hold the in-conference record tiebreaker over the Jazz and can clinch with a home win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, a decent proposition given that their opponents have committed to resting rotation players in the last week. There’s a non-zero possibility that Houston will blow that opportunity, but it’s perhaps likely that Utah will head into Kobe Bryant’s last game at Staples Center with nothing to play for. Perhaps the only stakes will be emotional.
If that comes to pass, then Friday’s home loss to the rest-happy Clippers will look like one of the most impactful results of the NBA season. The Jazz had a great chance to control their own destiny and could not get it done.
Cavalier altitude: For the third time in franchise history, the Cleveland Cavaliers have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, reaching that rarefied air by knocking off the Atlanta Hawks, 109-94, behind command performances by superstars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
After a sluggish start that saw visiting Atlanta race out to a 10-0 lead, the Cavs cranked it up and cold-cocked the Hawks, thanks in large part to one of the league’s premier one-two punches. James continued his dominant recent play by absolutely torching Atlanta’s perimeter defenders to the tune of 34 points on 13-for-16 shooting, six rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block in 32 1/2 minutes. He did all that damage in three quarters, sitting out the entire fourth after helping stake Cleveland to a 15-point lead; he is now averaging 28.4 points, 8.5 assists and 8.0 rebounds over his last 10 games, shooting a blistering 62 percent from the floor, 51.9 percent from 3-point land on nearly three attempts a night, and 80 percent from the line. I think it’s safe to say he’s ready for the playoffs.
We already knew that, though. It was less immediately clear where Irving was at, after shooting a shade under 38 percent from the field over his last 10 games with several high-profile duds, including Saturday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. But the three-time All-Star was locked in and on-target throughout Monday’s affair, pouring in a game-high 35 points — 13 of which came in the fourth, to keep the Hawks at bay while LeBron got some much-needed rest — on 14-for-28 shooting (4-for-8 from long distance) to go with four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
With James and Irving carrying the scoring load, the combo of Kevin Love (10 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, two steals) and newly crowned starting center Tristan Thompson (nine points, 10 rebounds, three steals, one block) clearing the glass and clogging the paint — especially for Hawks All-Star Paul Millsap, who finished with just nine points on 3-for-14 shooting — Cleveland had more than enough to clip the Hawks’ wings, taking control of the game midway through the second quarter and putting the hammer down in the third. Kent Bazemore (23 points, six rebounds, three steals), Jeff Teague (21 points, nine assists) and Al Horford (20 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two blocks) each had productive nights, but an 8-for-30 evening from 3-point range and a lack of defensive answers to credibly slow James and Irving left Atlanta on the short end of the stick. The Hawks are an excellent 15-5 over their last 20 games, but four of those five losses have come to either Cleveland or the Toronto Raptors, the top two teams in the conference; Atlanta has lost seven straight overall to the Cavs.
With the win, Cleveland improves to 57-24 and ensures that the Toronto Raptors can finish no higher than second in the East. We know that the Cavs and Raptors will play the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons; we just don’t know which of the top two teams will play which of the bottom two teams. That uncertainty, however, has nothing on the knot in the middle of the East.
With the loss, third-seeded Atlanta falls to 48-33, a half-game ahead of the idle No. 4 Miami Heat, who in turn sit just a half-game up on the fifth- and sixth-place Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets. It’s possible that all four teams in that Eastern pileup could finish with identical 48-34 records.
Only two nights left to figure this out, y’all. Work with us here.
And all this science I don’t understand: We’ve spent the majority of this season either waiting for the Houston Rockets to resemble the team that made the Western Conference Finals or lamenting that they lack the wherewithal and commitment to string together a few weeks of consistent high-level play. Well, the egg is on our faces, because the NBA’s greatest disappointment of 2015-16 looks to have the inside track to a playoff berth with one game to go.
Salvaging a No. 8 seed from the wreckage wouldn’t make this Rockets campaign anything close to a success, but it’s nonetheless hard to argue that they weren’t impressive in Monday’s 129-105 blowout of the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center. Houston opened up strong with a 38-21 first quarter and did not look back from there, scoring 30 points in each of the first three periods to build a 103-74 lead. Minnesota has been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention for some time, but the young team has played willing spoiler in the last week with wins over Golden State and Portland. The Rockets did not allow them the same opportunity in this one.
James Harden led the way with 34 points on 11-of-21 shooting, but this was a full-team effort. Trevor Ariza and Dwight Howard combined for 40 points on only 22 attempts as part of a 55.8 percent shooting night that included an 15-of-30 mark from three-point range. For that no matter, no player saw more than Patrick Beverley’s 35 minutes. They should be well rested for Wednesday’s finale vs. the Sacramento Kings at home.
The stakes for that contest are now clear. If the Rockets can beat the 33-48 Kings, they will make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed and face the Warriors in the first round. If they do not, they can still make it if the Jazz lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in Kobe Bryant’s last game. Sacramento has sat key veterans like DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo in recent outings, so it looks good for Houston. They must only avoid one last disappointment.
Buried by the buzz: After laying an egg against the shorthanded and eliminated Washington Wizards on Sunday, the Charlotte Hornets desperately needed a bounce-back performance to keep pace in the middle of the Eastern pack. They got one on Monday, turning on both the clamps and the jets in the second quarter to leave the Boston Celtics in the dust.
The Hornets absolutely stomped Boston out on the parquet at the TD Garden, ripping off a 31-3 run over the final 7:49 of the opening half to completely take over the proceedings and establish a lead they would never relinquish en route to a 114-100 victory. Charlotte reserve Jeremy Lin led the charge in that game-changing stretch, scoring 17 of his game-high 25 points on the strength of repeated drives into the teeth of the Celtics defense that produced 10 free throws, all of which he made. Lin added seven rebounds, five assists, five steals and a block in 39 minutes of work, proving once again that in his role as a sixth man/primary bench scorer, he can turn in star-level work.
With Lin puncturing Boston’s vaunted perimeter defense and former Celtic Al Jefferson (who got the start for Cody Zeller, who was out with a bruised sternum) dominating on the inside to the tune of 16 points on 8-for-11 shooting and 11 rebounds, Steve Clifford’s club had the celtics off balance and a step behind seemingly all night. The Hornets shot 50.6 percent from the field and drilled 14 of their 32 3-point attempts, and held Boston to a 38.2 percent mark from the floor — lowlighted by a 13-point, 3-for-22 second quarter in which Lin outscored the C’s by himself — to improve to 47-34, the franchise’s highest win total in more than 15 years, while dropping the Celtics to the same record. Both sit a half-game behind the No. 4 Heat and a full game behind the No. 3 Hawks, who clinched a top-four seed and home-court advantage in Round 1 thanks to Boston’s loss, meaning Monday wasn’t a total bummer of a night for the ATLiens.
On the other side of the coin, though, it also wasn’t an unqualified font of joy for Charlotte fans, who watched with dismay as straw-that-stirs-the-drink swingman Nicolas Batum landed awkwardly and came up gimpy following a pass on the opening possession of the third quarter:
Batum left the game immediately and was soon ruled out for the remainder of the game with a sprained left ankle. Head coach Clifford said after the win that he won’t sit anyone who’s healthy for Wednesday’s season finale against the Orlando Magic, but considering how much Batum’s playmaking and defensive versatility mean to Charlotte, discretion would figure to be the better part of valor there ahead of whichever postseason matchup the Hornets wind up facing.
“I don’t see any difference between fifth and sixth,” Clifford said, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. “You won’t know who you’d play, nor would it matter.”
There is a difference between fourth, fifth and sixth, though, and it’s one with which Boston had better concern itself come Wednesday. After trailing by as many as 28, the Celtics did eventually get their offense untracked, scoring 59 second-half points thanks to All-Star Isaiah Thomas, Sixth Man hopeful Evan Turner and rookie R.J. Hunter; they never got closer than 14 points, though, and now find themselves needing to knock off the Heat in their season-ender on Wednesday to have a shot at securing the final top-four spot in the conference, and with it the chance to open the playoffs at home in Massachusetts.
If that reset doesn’t erase the capacity to turn in more stretches like the second-quarter swan dive that cost them on Monday, the Celtics could find themselves making a far briefer stay in the postseason than they’d hoped.
TUESDAY’S BIGGEST GAMES
New York Knicks at Indiana Pacers, 7:00 p.m. ET: The Pacers currently hold the No. 7 seed over the Pistons via the head-to-head tiebreaker, but they can lock down that spot with a win and a Detroit loss to Miami. Otherwise, Wednesday’s finale at the Bucks will mean something.
Miami Heat at Detroit Pistons, 7:30 p.m. ET: The most important game of the night finds the Heat looking to distinguish themselves from the rest of the clump in the middle of the East and the Pistons hoping to avoid getting locked into a first-round matchup with the Cavs. A Miami win would put them into third for at least one day via a head-to-head tiebreaker they hold over Atlanta, although the finale at Boston will be a handful. The Pistons need to win to stay in the hunt for No. 7, because they will lose any tiebreaker to the Pacers.
Memphis Grizzlies at Los Angeles Clippers, 10:30 p.m. ET: The Grizzlies would lose tiebreakers against both the No. 5 Blazers and No. 7 Mavericks, which makes this game interesting for the No. 4 Clippers. A Memphis win would keep open the possibility that they can finish a game ahead of Portland, which would be an ideal matchup for L.A. Yet a loss would drop the Grizzlies all the way down to seventh. Either way, the Grizzlies would need to beat the Warriors on Wednesday to better their seed. So will the Clippers rest players in the hope of drawing a star-less first-round matchup or face likely reality and look to grab one more quality win to end the season on a high note?
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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!
Dan Devine also contributed to this report. Follow him on Twitter @YourManDevine.
