NBA play-in tracker: Warriors’ opponent outlook becomes clearer
The NBA’s play-in picture is finally coming into focus, now four days from the season’s end.
After back-to-back wins over the Western Conference’s top two teams, the Warriors had an off day Wednesday, but the three clubs directly ahead of them in the West all played important games — and won.
The Lakers, playing without stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, eked out a win over the Rockets to keep alive their hopes of moving up out of the play-in tournament. Never mind that Houston, which has secured the league’s worst record and top draft odds, played just one player who was on its Opening Night roster.
The Trail Blazers went into Utah and took a game off the top-seeded Jazz on national TV to stay ahead of the Lakers for the No. 5 seed. While Utah’s starting backcourt of Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell missed another game with injuries, Portland’s guard duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum combined for 56 points.
Luka Doncic and the Mavericks also kept pace, beating the Pelicans to officially eliminate them from play-in contention. Dallas got 33 points from Doncic and 27 from Tim Hardaway, Jr. to secure the win and stay in the No. 6 spot.
The Mavs and Blazers both sit at 41-29, one game ahead of the Lakers, so despite the win, LA’s odds of finishing seventh actually increased to 87.7 percent, per Basketball-Reference. Portland holds the head-tohead tiebreaker over Dallas, and both teams hold individual tiebreakers over LA. In the event of a three-team tie, the Warriors would still face the Lakers, with the Mavs at No. 5 (division winner tiebreaker) and Blazers at No. 6.
The Pelicans’ elimination means that even with the Spurs’ loss Wednesday to the Nets, only one team can challenge San Antonio for the No. 10 slot — the pesky Sacramento Kings. The Kings face an extreme road, though: They must win all three remaining games and the Spurs must lose all three of theirs.
Golden State and Memphis are locked into the eighth and ninth spots, with Sunday’s game between the two at Chase Center deciding the head-to-head tiebreaker and likely the seeding.