Friday NBA Roundup: Jazz Loss Means Race for West's Final Playoff Spot Rages on
The Utah Jazz shouldn't be in this position.
After a brutal 102-99 overtime loss to the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers, the fight for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference drags on. Though a victory wouldn't technically have clinched a playoff spot, it would've all but assured the Jazz of a postseason berth.
Led by a massive game from Gordon Hayward, a ridiculous fourth-quarter run that saw them go from an 85-79 deficit to a 92-85 advantage and a Clippers lineup that, as the Deseret News' Jody Genessy humorously explained, wasn't exactly at full strength, they almost escaped.
But it wasn't enough. A dagger from Jamal Crawford with 0.2 seconds left in the overtime period ended their chances of earning a two-game advantage on the Houston Rockets, and we're now left wondering who wants the final postseason berth more.
Which loss is worse? Is it dropping a game to a team without Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick, as the Jazz did Friday night? Or is it losing to the lowly Phoenix Suns, as the Rockets did Thursday?
Either way, Utah still has a slight advantage, though only because of the two teams' existing records. At 39-40 on the season, it begins the final stretch with a one-game head start over Houston.
But it's not like the schedule is going to be easy:
| 80 | Los Angeles Lakers | @ Denver Nuggets |
| 81 | @ Minnesota Timberwolves | Dallas Mavericks |
| 82 | Sacramento Kings | @ Los Angeles Lakers |
A road game against the Denver Nuggets won't be the toughest test, but the final two games on the schedule could allow Houston back into the mix. One is an affair with the motivated Dallas Mavericks. The second is a trip to the Staples Center for the final outing of Kobe Bryant's legendary career—a contest where The Mamba will have extra motivation to capture the spotlight for the final time.
Contrast that against Houston's schedule, which features three lottery-bound squads (including those same Los Angeles Lakers but with less motivation to put on a show), and everything stops looking too promising.
But even without dodging a bullet against the Clippers, the Jazz should make the playoffs. They're far better than their record would indicate, gaining experience throughout the season as one of the NBA's youngest teams and constantly being forced to overcome the nagging injuries that plagued so many of their key players.
Dante Exum has missed the entire season after tearing his ACL in August. Alec Burks hadn't played since Dec. 26, though he made his return from a fractured ankle and a concussion by scoring 11 points against the Clippers on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. Rudy Gobert has suited up in only 59 games. Derrick Favors in just 61.
And yet, the Jazz are still in position to advance to the next stage.
Heading into the LAC loss, they'd outscored the opposition by 2.1 points per 100 possessions, giving them the league's No. 10 net rating, as well as the fifth-best mark in their half of the Association. Basketball-Reference.com's Simple Rating System (SRS), which looks only at margin of victory and strength of schedule, has them in the exact same position.
Plus, NBA.com's lineup data shows the four-man combination of Rodney Hood, Hayward, Favors and Gobert has outscored its foes by 5.8 points per 100 possessions. Had its members been healthy enough to log more than 679 minutes over the course of just 43 games, the Jazz would've locked up a playoff spot long ago.
Houston's numbers don't look nearly as strong.
Rather than doing the outscoring, it's been on the wrong end of a minus-0.8 net rating throughout the 2015-16 campaign. SRS has it ranked at No. 16, leaving it outside the top half of NBA squads.
But the Rockets do have experience. James Harden and Dwight Howard have both played in the final round of the playoffs during previous seasons, and the roster is littered with veteran contributors such as Trevor Ariza and Jason Terry, who know how to avoid folding when the stakes are highest.
A fantastic battle looms before our very eyes, one made even more intense because the Jazz know they can't afford to emerge with a tie:
| Overall Record | 38-41 | 39-40 |
| Head-to-Head Record | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| Record Against Own Conference | 25-24 | 23-26 |
| Record Against Playoff Teams in Own Conference* | 13-19 | 7-21 |
In one corner, we have the young, homegrown Jazz who are trying to gain experience before an even brighter future takes hold in 2016-17. In the other come the Rockets, a disappointing bunch that still boasts plenty of talent and a high ceiling that's seldom been reached this campaign.
Thanks to those pesky Clippers, we probably won't know the winner until the final day of the regular season.
Mavericks Have No Such Problems
There's nothing quite like playing the injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies when a team is trying to cement its playoff standing.
While the Jazz struggled against the Clippers, the Dallas Mavericks did no such thing against their inferior foes. Behind 21 points from Dirk Nowitzki, a 19-spot from Justin Anderson and a bench that chipped in with 46 points, the Mavs rolled to a 103-93 victory that should have them breathing easy.
Had they lost, the playoffs wouldn't feel like a guarantee. A Utah victory might have forced the same result.
But now Dallas sits at 41-38 on the season, boasting a two-game lead over the Jazz and a three-contest advantage over the Houston Rockets with just three outings remaining on the calendar. Even if it loses its head-to-head clash with the team directly trailing it, that cushion should still keep it alive in the playoff picture.
However, just sneaking into the postseason isn't the only goal here.
Ideally, the Mavericks can earn a strong enough seed that they avoid a first-round clash with the bulletproof Golden State Warriors or San Antonio Spurs. Talented as the Oklahoma City Thunder may be, they're still the opponent any sane organization would prefer if given a choice between the three Western Conference favorites.
Dallas has an uphill climb to earn anything better than the No. 7 seed, but it now sits only one game behind the Grizzlies and 1.5 shy of the Portland Trail Blazers. And because this latest outing pushed it to a 3-1 series victory over Memphis, it owns the crucial head-to-head tiebreaker for playoff positioning.
The dream of making the playoffs is almost certainly going to be realized. Perhaps even more importantly, the goal of moving to No. 6 (or better) is now an even stronger possibility.
Boston Flexes Offensive Muscles
We already knew you shouldn't mess with the Boston Celtics on the defensive end. Heading into Friday night's contest against the Milwaukee Bucks, they boasted the league's No. 4 defensive rating, trailing only the Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks and San Antonio Spurs.
The C's are by no means pushovers on offense, but their 106.7 offensive rating is only slightly ahead of the league-average mark and places them outside the top 10. If there's a glaring weakness for this team, it's that it can struggle to keep up with a high-scoring opponent when Isaiah Thomas isn't producing.
But even with Thomas logging only 25 minutes—and still producing 20 points—against the overmatched Milwaukee Bucks during Boston's 124-109 victory, that wasn't the case. Everyone chipped in, despite head coach Brad Stevens taking his foot off the proverbial gas pedal down the stretch.
Tyler Zeller relished his opportunity to play hefty minutes, exploding for 26 points, three rebounds, two assists and four blocks off the bench. Kelly Olynyk chipped in with a 16-spot, missing exactly zero shots from the field and only breaking his perfection by going 5-of-7 at the charity stripe. Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger joined their teammates in double figures, while Evan Turner and Marcus Smart both provided nine assists off the pine.
This was an absolute clinic.
That's the only way to describe a performance that yielded 35 assists on 44 makes from the field. Boston knocked down 56.4 percent of its attempts on the night, torturing the Bucks by getting easy looks around the hoop for all 48 minutes.
And this isn't anything new, considering the team has produced a 107.8 offensive rating since the beginning of March. The opponents will be tougher than Milwaukee when the playoffs roll around, but these fundamental signs of scoring excellence bode well for Boston's postseason chances.
Nicolas Batum Makes Right Decision
Nicolas Batum could've chosen to sit out for the third consecutive game, opting to rest his strained left knee and ensure his health for the Charlotte Hornets' playoff run. Instead, per the broadcast on Fox Sports Southeast, he tested the knee during warm-ups and chose to fight through the pain so he could work on regaining chemistry with his teammates during the stretch run.
It worked.
Not only did the Hornets earn a blowout victory over the Brooklyn Nets, pulling away in the second half for a final margin of 113-99, but Batum looked strong as an individual. In his 27 minutes of action, he finished with 14 points, six rebounds and six assists while playing a part in numerous ball-sharing moments.
Perhaps none were prettier than a sequence late in the third quarter—one in which every player touched the ball en route to a corner three from Kemba Walker:
The Hornets have been trending up throughout the second half of the season, and games like this should strike fear into the hearts of their eventual first-round opponents.
The Brooklyn Nets weren't tough opponents while playing at full strength, and they're certainly not fearsome foes at this stage of the season. But they provided Charlotte with a platform to show the power of teamwork and the offensive improvements made throughout the 2015-16 campaign.
Lest we forget, this is a team that entered Friday night outscoring opponents by 4.1 points per 100 possessions with Batum on the court. If he's fully comfortable when the playoffs roll around, the Hornets could be one tough out.
Evan Fournier Wants to Get Paid
A restricted free agent this summer, Evan Fournier isn't going to pass up any opportunities to showcase his skills during the season's stretch run. He's already having an impressive year for the Orlando Magic, but the last few games on his lottery-bound squad's schedule give him a chance to elevate his value even more.
During the Magic's surprising 112-109 win over the Miami Heat, that's exactly what he did.
On the court for all but two minutes of the proceedings, the French swingman dominated in nearly every facet of the game. He finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and a steal while shooting 7-of-12 from the field, 2-of-2 from beyond the arc and 12-of-15 from the charity stripe.
But no play was more impressive than his penultimate offensive possession. Fournier passed up a mid-range jumper and fed Nikola Vucevic perfectly, allowing the big man to glide through the paint and slam home the go-ahead bucket:
It was a decision that drew the attention of ESPN.com's Kevin Pelton, among others:
Fournier was already likely to earn a significant payday this summer. Players who can line up at the 2 and capably knock down shots from all over the half-court set will never lose value in today's NBA.
But if he closes the season like this, perception of his game will enter the summer at an all-time high.
No John Wall, No Win
Markieff Morris did everything he could while playing against his twin brother, throwing up 29 points and seven rebounds on 10-of-20 shooting from the field. Bradley Beal chipped in with 25 points, six rebounds and three assists of his own.
But it still wasn't enough for a Washington Wizards squad playing without its unquestioned leader. Sans John Wall, who was sitting out with a sore knee, they dropped the Friday night contest to the Detroit Pistons by 13 points, sinking late in the fourth quarter with no one to help generate easy offense.
Of course, this trend is nothing new.
Before this contest, the Wizards had been outscored by 5.8 points per 100 possessions when the star point guard wasn't on the floor. When he was, the net rating jumped all the way into the positives, as Washington topped the opposition by a single point per 100 possessions.
Thanks to his ability to create his own offense and simultaneously keep his eyes up to look for open shooters prowling the perimeter, Wall means everything to the Wizards' overall scoring ability. And without him in the lineup Friday night, the last dreams of a postseason appearance fizzled.
Washington entered the outing trailing the Pistons by 3.5 games in the race for the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed. It was almost inconceivable they could go undefeated during their final four outings while watching Detroit go winless, but it was still mathematically possible.
Not anymore.
Underrated Rookie of the Night: Norman Powell
Laboring away in relative anonymity, Norman Powell entered the Toronto Raptors' 111-98 victory over the Indiana Pacers averaging just 4.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.2 blocks during his rookie season. He'd knocked down 35.6 percent of his three-point attempts, more than held his own on the defensive end and gradually improved for the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed.
Lately, the No. 46 pick of the 2015 NBA draft has been much better.
Since taking on a large rotation role on March 15, Powell has been an offensive revelation for the Raptors. He'd scored in double digits during nine of the 13 relevant outings, and that was before producing the best output of his young NBA career against the Pacers.
Earning the start and logging 41 minutes, the UCLA product exploded for 27 points, six rebounds, four assists and a steal while shooting 5-of-11 from the field, 3-of-4 from downtown and 14-of-19 from the charity stripe.
But don't worry. He's still going to keep doing rookie things until next season:
Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.
All stats, unless otherwise indicated, are from Basketball-Reference.com or Adam's own databases and accurate heading into games on April 8.
