Thunder Struck: The Oklahoma City Thunder are now on official alert. After appearing to have the franchise's sixth-straight playoff berth all but sewn up a week ago, the Thunder have dropped four of their last five to let the New Orleans Pelicans back into the race. Their latest loss came on Friday at the Memphis Grizzlies by a score of 100-92, an understandable result that unfortunately comes at a bad time for OKC.
It was a fairly typical performance for a Memphis team that looks much improved after three rough losses to title contenders last week. The Grizzlies got balanced scoring (six players in double figures, led by Jeff Green with 22 points) while forcing the Thunder into bad shots and 40.9 percent shooting from the field. Russell Westbrook especially struggled with 18 points on very poor efficiency (5-of-20 FG, 0-of-3 3FG, 8-of-13 FT). Enes Kanter did well for the Thunder (24 points and 17 rebounds), but he was the only major bright spot despite the relatively narrow eight-point margin.
The Grizzlies are now back in a tie with the Houston Rockets for the No. 2 seed in the West but lose the tiebreaker (for now) via their inferior record (8-7 < 7-6) in the Southwest Division. This race is currently changing by the day, depending on which teams play, and looks likely to keep going until the season's final few days.
The Thunder's loss combined with the Pelicans' win (more on that in the next section) to give them just a half-game lead in the race for the West's final playoff spot. OKC's struggles are understandable — three of their four recent losses came against playoff teams — but they are nonetheless concerning for a team that needs every win it can get right now. Things won't get any easier for the Thunder their next time out, because they host the Rockets on Sunday.
Marching In: The New Orleans Pelicans have burst back into the playoff picture with four straight wins, the latest coming 101-95 on Friday at the Sacramento Kings. The Pelicans built a 14-point halftime lead, in part due to this Quincy Pondexter buzzer-beater ...
... but saw the Kings fight back in the second half behind DeMarcus Cousins's second-straight triple-double (24 points, 20 rebounds, 13 assists, four blocks). Yet the Pelicans pulled it out with balanced scoring (four scorers with at least 18 points) and forced bad shots from the Kings in the final minutes.
At a half-game back of the Thunder, the Pelicans can pull even (and take No. 8 via their 3-1 season-series advantage) with a win Saturday at the Portland Trail Blazers. That will be a serious challenge, because their four consecutive wins have come against the three worst teams in the West. The Pelicans are a contender again, but they'll have to prove they belong in the postseason.
Pau Is Very Excited to Win: The Chicago Bulls withstood a Detroit Pistons comeback to come away from the Palace of Auburn Hills with an 88-82 win. Pau Gasol iced the game with an emphatic putback and-one dunk. With the Raptors having lost earlier in the night, the Bulls opened up a full-game lead for the No. 3 seed.
Nets Gain: Toronto lost because they played the Brooklyn Nets, suddenly the hottest team in the conference. Brooklyn's 114-109 victory gave them six in a row and 10 of their last 12, good enough to lift them to the No. 7 seed in the conference at one game ahead of the Miami Heat.
More Contenders, In Theory: Three teams sit just out of the No. 8 spot in the East, although they aren't exactly playing well enough to deserve it. The Indiana Pacers dominated the Charlotte Bobcats 93-74 to leapfrog them into 10th place, although they're still 1 1/2 games behind the Heat with only six left to play. Plus, both teams will have to pass the Boston Celtics, who remained in ninth but broke their ostensible tie with the Miami Heat by losing to the comfortably No. 6 Milwaukee Bucks 110-101. None of these teams look particularly good right now, but a few more losses by Miami could allow them to sneak in.
The Rest: In the West, the surging San Antonio Spurs blew out the Denver Nuggets 123-93 on the strength of an absurd 45-point first quarter to notch their 50th win of the season. That's now 16-straight seasons in which the Spurs have won at least 50 games. At 50-26, the Spurs are tied with the Los Angeles Clippers for fifth in the West but occupy the No. 6 spot due to a significant four-game deficit in the conference record tiebreaker.
However, the Spurs are a half-game better than the No. 4 seed Portland Trail Blazers, who handled the Los Angeles Lakers to clinch the Northwest Divison. That title is important, because they now officially cannot fall below the No. 4 seed no matter their record, even though they would still surrender homecourt advantage to a No. 5 seed with a superior record. (No, you're right, that is not intuitive at all.)
In the East, the No. 5 Washington Wizards beat the lowly New York Knicks 101-87 to draw within two games of the Raptors. Toronto has already clinched the Atlantic Division but could feasibly give up homecourt advantage with a sustained slump.
Saturday's Most Important Games
Nets at Hawks, 7:00 p.m. ET: The Hawks have not taken their games especially seriously since clinching the East and could easily fall victim to the Nets. If that happens, then Brooklyn will be in prime position to hold down a playoff spot, thereby justifying some of the cost of keeping Joe Johnson.
Heat at Pistons, 7:30 p.m. ET: Miami needs to win as many games as possible but could be without Dwyane Wade, who suffered a supposedly minor left knee bruise in Thursday's loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pistons nearly beat the Bulls on Friday and could easily play spoiler.
Celtics at Raptors, 7:30 p.m. ET: Both teams need wins — the Celtics to put pressure on and potentially pass the Heat, the Raptors to draw within a half-game of the idle Bulls.
Wizards at Grizzlies, 8:00 p.m. ET: It's hard to imagine Washington ending up anywhere other than at No. 5 in the East, but the Grizzlies can pass the Rockets in the race for the No. 2 seed and put pressure on their rivals to top the Thunder in Sunday's opening ABC game.
Pelicans at Blazers, 10:00 p.m. ET: The best game of the day also has the most stakes. The Pelicans can tie the Thunder and become the No. 8 team in the West with a win, while the Blazers can match the Spurs at 50-26 and possibly pass the Clippers (they play at the Denver Nuggets). Tying the Spurs' record matters, because Portland holds any tiebreakers for homecourt advantage via their division title.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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