Apr
10
Playoff Picture: April 10th
By sarahhecht Posted in: playoffs
Though the Trail Blazers aren’t playing tonight all of the important games affect them.
Here’s the breakdown:
Portland movement scenarios:
- New Orleans wins: Portland is bumped to 7th
Dallas movement scenarios: (Dallas won’t actually shift in the standings due to the way tiebreakers stand, but this is how the games could impact them.)
- Dallas wins, L.A wins: no change
- Dallas wins, Oklahoma City wins: Dallas ties L.A. (Lakers win the tiebreaker 2-1)
- Dallas loses, Oklahoma City wins: Dallas ties OKC (Dallas wins the tiebreaker 2-1)
This is a tenuous situation if you’re hoping for Dallas in the first round.
Thoughts?
Last night's scores and effects:
The
San Antonio Spurs beat the 
Utah Jazz 111-102 in San Antonio. The Spurs keep pushing to maintain the overall top seed in the league. The defeat of Utah added another game to the win column. Their record is 61-19 while Chicago’s is 59-20.
The
Denver Nuggets clobbered the 
Minnesota Timberwolves 130-106 in Denver. The Nuggets demolished the Timberwolves and increased their lead over Portland to two full games. They sit in the 5th seed in the Western Conference.
Today’s games with Western Conference playoff teams:
New Orleans Hornets (46-33) vs. 
Memphis Grizzlies (45-34) This is a huge game. New Orleans is in 7th and Memphis is in 8th. A Hornets win moves them into 6th and bumps the Trail Blazers to 7th. A Memphis win will tie them with NOLA. (NOLA wins with the Division record tiebreaker and holds onto 7th.)
Phoenix Suns (38-41) vs. 
Dallas Mavericks (54-25) The Mavs are in 3rd in the West. They trail the Lakers by one full game and lead the Thunder by the same. (See movement scenarios above.)
Oklahoma City Thunder (53-26) vs. 
L.A. Lakers (55-24) The Lakers are in 2nd and the Thunder are in 4th. They’re each separated from Dallas by one full game. (See movement scenarios above.)
Here are the playoff match-ups as of today:
(Tables courtesy of NBA.com)