A playoff seeding rundown, plus recaps from Thursday’s five-game slate.
First, a playoff standings rundown for each conference through 80 games, give or take a game.
Now, for last night’s scores.
It’s difficult to make a playoff-related judgment on a result like this one, given that while Phoenix won a close one, it essentially came against Denver’s B-Team. Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all sat, while the Suns played at full strength. It could say more about either team — that Denver has enough depth to cause a great deal of trouble to teams playing at full strength, or that Phoenix could struggle despite their uber-talented offense.
Nevertheless, in this one, Kevin Durant led the Suns with 29 points, nailing six threes, and added seven rebounds while Chris Paul made a career-high seven triples en route to 25 points. The Suns are now 8-0 with Durant in their lineup, a promising run with the postseason closing in.
Bruce Brown led Denver with 31 points on 11-of-18 shooting. Reggie Jackson had 20 points and six assists, Christian Braun had 15 points, Jeff Green scored 14, and DeAndre Jordan had 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead a strong legion of Denver’s reserves.
One game to go for the upstart Thunder, who are guaranteed to clinch a play-in berth if they beat Memphis in their regular-season finale on Sunday following Thursday’s dominant victory in Utah. Kris Dunn was practically the sole bright spot for the Jazz, scoring 22 points, as Utah was officially eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 points to lead OKC’s offense, while Josh Giddey had 17 points, eight assists, and eight rebounds. Aaron Wiggins scored 15 for the Thunder, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
In what the Spurs are deeming “regional outreach,” they elected to play out the final two games of this regular season at Austin’s Moody Center. Nothing like kicking off a partnership with a bang. Keita Bates-Diop scored a game-high 25 points for San Antonio, while Julian Champagnie and Keldon Johnson added 24 points each. The win made sure that San Antonio, now 21-59, will not finish with the franchise’s worst-ever record; that 20-62 mark came in 1997, one year before Tim Duncan arrive din San Antonio after being selected first overall. Coincidence, given the ever-coveted big man that is slated to go atop the 2023 Draft? Perhaps.
Even while resting their starters, the Cavs were able to handle a young Orlando team that had otherwise proven formidable competition for practically every team they’d encountered this season. Danny Green scored 21 points, Cedi Osman added 19, and Isaiah Mobley scored 18 points off the bench to lead Cleveland.
Though they’ve basically puttered around the seventh seed for the better part of the last few weeks, Miami remains alive for a true playoff berth with just two games to go, thanks in large part to Thursday’s blowout win over Philadelphia. Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro each scored 24 points to lead the Heat. For the Sixers, Joel Embiid scored 21 points despite sitting for the fourth quarter, and James Harden chipped in 14 in limited minutes. Having already clinched the third spot in the East, a win on Thursday would have set a date with the Brooklyn Nets in the first round. And yet, those zombies from Miami keep on kicking around.
The end of the season is gonna be fun.
