Wednesday NBA Roundup: Playoff Race Out East Only Masking Disparity with West
This season, the Eastern Conference is where certainty has gone to die. Between sub-.500 teams lining up to punch their postseason tickets and maddening night-to-night inconsistencies, clarity has been nothing more than an elusive pipe dream.
In other words, break out your finest No. 2 pencils and throw away the pens when trying to project how the East is going to shake out come season's end.
Take Wednesday night's clash between the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors, for example. With no Kyle Lowry (back) and no Derrick Rose (knee), points didn't figure to flow at a particularly high clip in the race for temporary rights to the No. 3 seed.
Alas, the exact opposite was true.
As CBSSports.com's Matt Moore noted, Wednesday's back-and-forth duel epitomized the unpredictability that's come to define an unstable East:
"Raptors-Bulls: The East in a nutshell
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) March 25, 2015"
"The East has become one giant “The Aristocrats!” joke. “The Raptors are up without Lowry, the Heat lead without Wade…. THE EAST!”
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) March 26, 2015"
After failing to crack 100 points in back-to-back games against the Charlotte Hornets and Detroit Pistons, Chicago exploded in its 116-103 win over Toronto to maintain a momentary grip on the coveted No. 3 seed.
But according to the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson, Jimmy Butler could not care less about seeding at this stage in the game:
Butler (23 points, 7-of-8 shooting) and Pau Gasol (18 points, four rebounds) were their usual, productive selves, but the Bulls' supporting cast propelled Chicago to 60.8 percent shooting from the field and 52.2 percent from three. Aaron Brooks, Nikola Mirotic and Tony Snell poured in 16, 15 and 17 points, respectively, as Chicago dominated the fourth quarter, 39-21.
According to Bulls Radio's Jeff Mangurten, Chicago diversified its crunch-time portfolio in impressive ways:
Chicago now owns a 1.5-game lead on the fourth-seeded Raptors, whom the Bulls swept with their outrageous offensive display.
However, that doesn't mean anything should be written in stone. Nothing in the East should be. Outside of the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers, parity has enveloped the NBA's inferior conference all season long. That's made for compelling late-season matchups and nail-biting finishes, but a sense of relative equality has only masked the massive chasm in quality between the East and West.
While the Bulls (44-29) and Raptors (42-30) duke it out for third and fourth place, the Oklahoma City Thunder are scratching and clawing for their playoff lives with 41 wins in the West's eighth and final spot.
| 1. Atlanta Hawks* | 54-17 | 0.0 | W1 |
| 2. Cleveland Cavaliers* | 47-26 | 8.0 | W4 |
| 3. Chicago Bulls* | 44-29 | 11.0 | W2 |
| 4. Toronto Raptors* | 42-30 | 12.5 | L2 |
| 5. Washington Wizards | 40-32 | 14.5 | L4 |
| 6. Milwaukee Bucks | 35-36 | 19.0 | W1 |
| 7. Miami Heat | 33-38 | 21.0 | W1 |
| 8. Boston Celtics | 31-40 | 23.0 | L1 |
| 9. Indiana Pacers | 31-40 | 23.0 | W1 |
| 10. Brooklyn Nets | 30-40 | 23.5 | W1 |
| 11. Charlotte Hornets | 30-40 | 23.5 | L2 |
Heck, the San Antonio Spurs can barely hold steady in occupation of the West's No. 6 seed but would be sitting pretty with home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs out East. Even the Utah Jazz, who started the season a woeful 17-30, would be fighting for a playoff spot at the bottom of the East's turbulent postseason picture.
Just check out this insane factoid from The Brooklyn Game's Devin Kharpertian (via Reddit):
The most stark contrast, though, can be viewed through the prism of June's draft. As things stand, the ninth-seeded Indiana Pacers, 10th-seeded Brooklyn Nets and 11th-seeded Charlotte Hornets—all of whom are within a half-game of the No. 8 seed—are projected to occupy spots nine through 11 in the draft lottery, according to Tankathon.
Meanwhile, the West's 10th-seeded Phoenix Suns and ninth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans are projected to obtain picks 13 and 14, respectively, at the tail end of ping-pong-ball proceedings.
Parity is fun and all, but the massive disparity in quality between West and East can't be masked by frenzied uncertainty alone.
Around the Association
Cleveland Sends a Message
It’s officially time to be terrified of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love all reached the 20-point mark in Cleveland’s dominant 111-89 road win against the Memphis Grizzlies—a none too surprising result considering the way the Cavs have pulled together of late.
Winners of 14 of their last 15 against the West, the Cavaliers have done plenty to prove they’ll be a handful for any potential NBA Finals foe. And with a closing schedule featuring only Eastern Conference competition, Cleveland can cruise to the finish and get healthy at its leisure.
A rested, rolling Cavs team should worry the rest of the league, especially considering how fantastic it's been in March, as illustrated by Synergy Sports Tech:
Per NBA.com, Cleveland’s five-man unit consisting of James, Irving, Love, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov has posted a higher net rating than any fivesome with at least 300 total minutes together this season.
"As far as sending a message, we’ve done our job in this league this year," James told reporters (via Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal). "Teams know, and the league knows what we’re about."
Message received.
—Contributed by Grant Hughes
San Antonio Sends OKC Packing
The San Antonio Spurs were kicked to the curb by the Dallas Mavericks, 101-94, Tuesday night, which meant a response of epic proportions from the defending champions was in order.
In the Spurs' most impressive offensive showcase of the season, San Antonio walloped the Oklahoma City Thunder, 130-91. The 130 points were a Spurs season high.
One day after getting held in check by Rajon Rondo, Tony Parker exploded for 21 points (10-of-14 shooting) and six assists in 28 minutes as four of San Antonio's five starters finished in double figures.
On the flip side, Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook managed 16 points (5-of-16 shooting), seven assists, four rebounds and four turnovers in the loss. It was the first time he failed to record a double-double or triple-double since March 11, and Oklahoma City was a team-worst minus-30 with him on the floor.
As Bleacher Report's Dan Favale noted, Oklahoma City has failed to bring its A-game against the West's best sans Kevin Durant:
Keep that record in mind as the postseason approaches.
Houston Gets Its Big Man Back
Dwight Howard saw his first game action in two months as the Houston Rockets held off a late-charging New Orleans Pelicans squad for a 95-93 road victory.
Limited by design to just 16 minutes, Howard connected on two of his three field-goal attempts and hauled in seven rebounds. Despite a two-month layoff caused by a troublesome knee, Howard moved well, which should make the Rockets hopeful as they near postseason play.
Another source of hope: James Harden’s routine offensive dominance, punctuated in this contest by a nasty third-quarter jam.
He finished with 25 points, 10 assists and six rebounds in 37 minutes.
Houston has kinks to work out as it reintegrates Howard into the rotation. He’s an undeniable defensive boon, as evidenced by the 3.9 points per 100 possessions he shaves off the Rockets' defensive rating, per NBA.com. On the other end, there should be some concerns about D12’s potential to disrupt the spacing that Harden has used to such great effect this year.
Of course, there are worse problems for a team to have than figuring out how to reintroduce a superstar.
Things are looking up in Houston.
—Contributed by Grant Hughes
Hill's Heroics Halt Indy's Skid
At long last, the Pacers' six-game losing streak has been snapped, thanks to the late-game heroics of George Hill.
With the game tied and time running down, Hill (29 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) burned past Martell Webster off the bounce to seal Indiana's 103-101 win over the Washington Wizards.
But even though Indiana won and the Boston Celtics lost to the Dwyane Wade-less Miami Heat, 93-86, the Pacers weren't able to vault back into the No. 8 seed, according to Vigilant Sports' Scott Agness:
Boston is slated to square off against Charlotte and Indiana on back-to-back nights next week, so an opportunity does exist—however slim it may be—for clarity to emerge at the bottom of the East over the next seven days.
With the win, Miami moved two games clear of the Celtics for the seventh seed and two games back of the idle Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 6 seed.
Here Lies Jason Smith
Jason Smith lived a nice life. He really did. Unfortunately, it ended when DeAndre Jordan cocked back and dunked him into oblivion right before halftime of the Los Angeles Clippers' 111-80 win over the New York Knicks:
As if the Clippers putting on an impromptu dunk contest at Madison Square Garden wasn't embarrassing enough, Chris Paul made New York's raggedy offense look inferior by comparison, according to ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley:
Paul finished with 11 points and a game-high 16 dimes (New York had 14 as a team) as all five Clippers starters finished in double figures.
Austin Rivers—yes, that Austin Rivers—capitalized on 19 minutes of garbage time and recorded a game-high 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting. No, this isn't an early April Fools' joke.
Brooklyn Breaks 30
It's not exactly a cause for celebration, but the Nets rattled off their 30th win of the season with a 91-88 road win over the Charlotte Hornets. With Wednesday's results in hand, Brooklyn and Charlotte own identical 30-40 records and each sits a half-game back of the Celtics.
Although Brooklyn's triumph can adequately be described as an offensive slop-fest, Deron Williams (10 points, 14 assists) recorded his eighth double-double of the season, while Brook Lopez schooled Charlotte by tallying 34 points (16-of-26 shooting), 10 rebounds and three blocks in 39 minutes.
After shooting 39.6 percent from the field and 25 percent from three in the loss, Charlotte owns the league's fifth-least efficient offense in March, according to NBA.com.
