Playoff Battles Grinding Down to Final Day and Tuesday NBA Takeaways
If you're seeking honest-to-goodness clarity to this wild and wacky NBA playoff picture...well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow—which, according to Annie, is only a day away.
To be sure, Tuesday's action did settle some of the lingering chaos, particularly in the Eastern Conference. No longer need the Cleveland Cavaliers to put together more than one book on potential playoff opponents (more on that later).
The Miami Heat, for their part, can start planning their summer vacations, now that they've been knocked out of postseason consideration by the pesky Indiana Pacers, as NBA.com's David Aldridge pointed out:
Indy needed four quarters and two five-minute periods fraught with bad basketball to fend off the visiting Washington Wizards and secure a 99-95 double-overtime victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
George Hill and C.J. Miles combined for 49 of the Pacers' points, but there were many more heroes than those two for the home team in this slog.
Hill gave Indiana a 76-75 lead with 2:33 to play—its first advantage since the score was 18-16 early in the second quarter—off a keen pass from David West.
In the first overtime, the struggling Roy Hibbert knotted things up at 83 with a straight-away 20-footer. On the Pacers' next possession, Paul George, in his longest appearance of the 2014-15 season, nailed a 20-footer to even the score at 85, but he came up short on a long three-point look at the buzzer.
Come double overtime, Hill, Miles and West had just enough left in the tank to pull the Pacers past the weary Wizards, who hung around, despite John Wall and Bradley Beal combining to shoot 14-of-47 from the field.
Not that Wall didn't have his moments, like on this beautiful behind-the-back pass by the All-Star point guard to Beal on the break:
Still, Washington couldn't dig quite as deep as the desperate Pacers, who now control their own destiny in pursuit of the No. 8 seed in the East.
| 1. Atlanta* | 60-21 | --- | 1. Golden State* | 66-15 | --- |
| 2. Cleveland* | 52-29 | 8 | 2. L.A. Clippers* | 56-26 | 10.5 |
| 3. Chicago* | 49-32 | 11 | 3. San Antonio* | 55-26 | 11 |
| 4. Toronto* | 48-33 | 12 | 4. Portland* | 51-30 | 15 |
| 5. Washington* | 46-35 | 14 | 5. Houston* | 55-26 | 11 |
| 6. Milwaukee* | 41-40 | 19 | 6. Memphis* | 54-27 | 12 |
| 7. Boston* | 39-42 | 21 | 7. Dallas* | 49-32 | 17 |
| 8. Indiana | 38-43 | 22 | 8. New Orleans | 44-37 | 22 |
| 9. Brooklyn | 37-44 | 23 | 9. Oklahoma City | 44-37 | 22 |
| 10. Miami | 36-45 | 24 | 10. Phoenix | 39-43 | 27.5 |
If the Pacers win on Wednesday, they'll be back in the playoffs for the fifth year in a row. That, in itself, would be quite the feat for Indy, even after consecutive appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Between Lance Stephenson's offseason departure, George's devastating leg injury and the seemingly never-ending series of setbacks that befell the rest of the roster, the Pacers could've sunk into the lottery under the weight of their terrible luck.
Instead, Indy kept fighting and, by dint of its current six-game winning streak, will get to play its way into the postseason. Play-by-play announcer Scott Agness shared head coach Frank Vogel's praise for his Pacers squad:
Extending that spurt to seven, though, will not be an easy feat. The Pacers will have to upend the Grizzlies—who have plenty of their own to play for—in Memphis on Wednesday, on whatever legs they have left, to knock the Brooklyn Nets out of the running.
Of course, the Nets could do themselves in with a choke job at home against the Orlando Magic. Meanwhile, Memphis might be making do without three of its key players (i.e. Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Tony Allen) on account of injury.
All told, the odds are currently in the Pacers' favor. But nobody will know for certain which team will be opening the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks until Wednesday night, which remains one agonizing day away.
Western Conference Playoff Scenarios at a Glance
- Golden State: Already clinched the No. 1 seed in the West and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs
- San Antonio: Clinches the No. 2 seed and the Southwest Division crown with a win over New Orleans; with a loss, the Spurs can drop to No. 3 if the Rockets lose, to No. 5 if the Rockets win and Grizzlies lose or to No. 6 if Houston and Memphis both win.
- Los Angeles: Clinched no worse than the West's No. 3 seed with a win at Phoenix on Tuesday; if Houston and San Antonio lose on Wednesday, L.A. will move up to the No. 2 seed.
- Portland: Wrapped up the No. 4 seed but won't own home-court advantage in the first round
- Houston: A win over the Jazz on Wednesday will leave the Rockets with no worse than the No. 5 seed and home-court vs. Portland. A win and a Spurs loss puts Houston at No. 2 in the West by virtue of the Southwest Division title. A loss and a Memphis win against Indiana drops Houston into the No. 6 spot.
- Memphis: Can clinch the No. 5 seed with a win over the Pacers and a Houston loss; otherwise, the Grizzlies will be the No. 6 seed.
- Dallas: Can't budge from the No. 7 seed
- New Orleans: Clinches the No. 8 seed with a win over San Antonio or an Oklahoma City loss at Minnesota
- Oklahoma City: Clinches the No. 8 seed with a Pelicans loss to the Spurs and a win over the Timberwolves
Crowder Seals C's-Cavs Matchup
The NBA playoff picture won't be a complete mess heading into Wednesday's finale. You can thank the Boston Celtics—and, more specifically, Jae Crowder—for that.
With fewer than three seconds to play and the score tied at 93 between the Celtics and Raptors, Crowder caught the inbounds pass, dribbled toward the corner and tossed up a long jumper over the outstretched arms of two Toronto defenders. Somehow, someway, Crowder's Hail Mary shot dropped without so much as grazing the rim.
The Raptors failed to get off a retort in the 0.8 seconds with which Crowder's miracle left them. The C's walked off the parquet floor as winners, 95-93, to the cheers of a raucous TD Garden crowd.
To be sure, the long two that Crowder unleashed was hardly a season-saver. Boston had already wrapped up an unlikely spot in the postseason with back-to-back wins against the resting Cleveland Cavaliers over the weekend. And if Crowder hadn't converted after coming off the double screen of head coach Brad Stevens' design, the game probably would've gone to overtime.
Still, for Crowder, a veritable throw-in from the Rajon Rondo trade, to be Boston's hero in a big spot speaks to just how topsy-turvy this season has been for the C's. When the Celtics fell to 16-30 on Feb. 1, an appearance in the playoffs seemed about as feasible as a former second-rounder nailing a game-winner that might've made Kobe Bryant blush.
And yet, both came to fruition in Boston this season. The luck of the leprechaun has favored this scrappy squad to this point.
That luck, though, figures to run out fairly soon. As a result of their latest victory, these C's will collect their first playoff seasoning courtesy of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and their Cleveland contingent, per Celtics announcer Sean Grande:
"Celtics and the Cavs. Done deal. Feels like old times.
— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) April 15, 2015"
Stevens, for one, doesn't seem too concerned about his squad getting cooked (via The Boston Globe's Adam Himmelsbach):
Clippers Cruise to New Marks
The Clippers' 112-101 win over the Suns wasn't particularly eventful, aside from the work Phoenix put in against L.A.'s awful bench to shave two-thirds off the visitors' 30-point lead. But as far as its historical significance, this one was about as eventful as any the Clippers have ever played during the regular season.
For one, this victory—L.A.'s seventh in a row and 14th out of 15 to close out the 2014-15 campaign—extended the team's road winning streak to a franchise-record eight straight. It also assured the Clippers of no worse than their second straight third-place conference finish. Prior to last season, they hadn't finished that high since 1974-75...when they were the Braves...and they played in Buffalo.
And if the Spurs and Rockets both lose on Wednesday, L.A. will secure its first No. 2 seed.
Individually, the Clippers players logged some milestones of their own. Chris Paul finished off a full 82-game slate for the first time in his NBA career. DeAndre Jordan, who extended his league-leading games-played streak, etched his name as the most prolific single-season rebounder in Clippers history (an NBA-best 1,226 caroms).
Even that subpar second unit got some shine. Jamal Crawford's 10 points pushed him past "Pistol" Pete Maravich on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Crawford also joined Paul and J.J. Redick to give the Clippers the most 90 percent free-throw shooters any single squad has had in the Association's history, as Chris Palmer noted:
All told, the Clippers look closer to title material than they've probably ever been...ever. If things break this team's way, L.A. could have more than just a dark horse's chance of hanging a banner of its own next to all those shimmering Lakers championships at Staples Center.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
