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.
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Oklahoma City Downs a Dream: The Phoenix Suns aren’t entirely out of the playoff picture at this point, but it will be hard to recover from what the Thunder managed to do to them in 24 swift minutes on Sunday evening.
Down 20 early in the offering, the Thunder utilized small lineups and desperate chances on its way to a borderline stunning 109-97 win. The team outscored Phoenix by 20 over the game’s final 24 minutes, with Russell Westbrook nearing yet another triple-double (33 points on 27 shots, nine rebounds, seven assists), Dion Waiters offering his bi-weekly “this is why we still take chances on him” contribution of 18 points on 20 shots, and bench performers D.J. Augustin and Anthony Morrow combined for 30 points on only 15 attempts from the field.
Phoenix never seemed to find a defensive rhythm after the lay-up line that was the first half, and as a result the team is now four games back in the race for the final postseason berth in the West. OKC also moved to 2.5 games up over the New Orleans Pelicans, keeping pace in spite of NOLA’s 22-point win over the hapless (and clearly tanking, as the team’s coaching staff went away from productive lineups in the second half) Minnesota Timberwolves.
Rockets Ascend: Afforded the national TV showing and a frustrated opponent to tee off upon, the Houston Rockets elbowed their way into the Western Conference’s second-best record on Sunday afternoon. Despite injuries to three former starters, the Rox rode James Harden’s 9-10 touch from the free throw line to a 99-91 win that was more lopsided than the final score would indicate.
Dwight Howard managed a double-double despite playing just 18 minutes, as the Wizards solidified their slot as The Fifth Seed That Can’t Wait for 2014-15 To Be Over.
Memphis Blues Again: The Grizzlies have lost 11 of 20 since Feb. 25. This is a bit of a problem, a problem that can’t be solved by sliding Vince Carter into the starting lineup or making snarky remarks about Jeff Green.
Working on the road, in the home of the San Antonio franchise that the Grizzlies famously downed in the first-round of the 2011 playoffs, Memphis had no answer for Kawhi Leonard’s length and touch on Sunday evening. In a 103-89 loss that allowed Houston to vault past Memphis and into the West’s second seed, the Grizz were continually kept at arm’s length by a Spurs squad that seemed to have a rotation answer for every Memphis run.
Working small by design, the Grizzlies could not keep Leonard (25 points, 10 rebounds) away from his preferred spots close to the basket. San Antonio dominated the glass, kept the ball moving (25 assists; hardly home cooking from the local scorers’ crew), and barely broke a sweat in winning its sixth game in seven tries. Quietly, per the team’s custom, the Spurs moved into second place in terms of defensive efficiency on the season over the weekend.
Nets Appeal: Smirking in the face of the whole of NBA fandom, the Brooklyn Nets managed to ride into the East’s playoff bracket by taking advantage of a miserable Los Angeles Lakers team, ticking off those of whom that want nothing to do with watching BKN past the third week of April. Joe Johnson, still a guy that plays basketball for a lot of money, helped helm his team’s fourth quarter stand after the Lakers threatened. Brooklyn center Brook Lopez continued to add to what has been a fabulous March turn by adding 30 points in the face of a Laker frontcourt that seemed to have no idea what to do with a big man that can walk and chew gum at the same time.
The team’s 107-99 win put the trillion-dollar squad a half game up over the same Boston Celtics team that …
Boston Blows It: The Celtics shouldn’t have been favored against a Los Angeles Clippers team that had no business losing to a C’s group working eight games below .500 in late March, and yet the Celtics still managed to make it worse with lethargic and uninspired play from the outset. Brad Stevens’ crew managed to make an interesting game in spite of the slow start, returning to force former Celtics coach Doc Rivers to put his Clipper starters in late in the fourth quarter following a Boston run, but the same spark that inspired the Marcus Smart-driven run in recent weeks just wasn’t there for the Celtics. Smart, in particular, appears to have hit the rookie wall.
Celtic wing Jae Crowder had his moments, and the application of a Hack-a-DeAndre Jordan acted as an intelligent move as the Celtics came back, but Boston dug itself too deep a hole in the opening moments. As a result, following the 119-106 dive, the team now stands a half-game behind Brooklyn for the East’s final postseason seed.
Miami Acts its Age: Officially listed as “questionable” heading into an anonymous Sunday afternoon game in Detroit, Dwyane Wade managed to turn back the clock on his way to a 40-point outing in the Heat’s win over the Pistons. That total ranks as the second-highest output of Wade’s season thus far, made all the more impressive in the face of the fact that helper Luol Deng had to leave the game after just 18 unproductive minutes due to a painful knee contusion. With 21-year old (!) Andre Drummond adding a season-high 32 points, the Heat needed everything they could get from their franchise player in the 109-102 win.
(There’s also the whole part about Dwyane Wade having to drain fluid out of his troublesome left knee just a day before keeping his Heat a game and a half up on the Nets for the seventh spot in the East.)
Quickly: The Pacers badly needed Rodney Stuckey to return in order to keep their playoff hopes alive, which somehow isn’t the saddest thing to happen in Indiana this month … Cleveland and Philadelphia paid tribute to the NCAA Tournament by missing a ton of shots and taking far too long to finish their game on Sunday afternoon, the Cavs eventually held on despite Kevin Love’s back injury … Pesto goes with anything.
Monday's Most Important Games
Boston at Charlotte , 7:00 p.m. ET: It’s to the discredit of all involved that a 32-41 team and a 31-41 outfit are battling in late March for the chance to make the playoffs in the East, but this is what happens when Danny Ainge intelligently decides to rebuild on the fly and Michael Jordan decides that he wants to prove himself to Jerry Krause. The C’s have lost two of three to Charlotte on the year, but the Hornets will be likely working with a hobbled Al Jefferson and Mo Williams.
Houston at Toronto , 7:30 p.m. ET: This could act as the trappiest of all trap games, as the Rockets are coming off of a solid road win over the Wizards and the Raptors could be looking to turn things around after not bothering to guard anyone in the 2015 calendar year. Toronto has it in them to down the West’s current second seed at full strength, but with Kyle Lowry likely out the Raps will be up against it.
Milwaukee at Atlanta , 7:30 p.m. ET: The Hawks might sit all of their starters again, and Milwaukee might still struggle to score 78 points.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
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