NBA Playoff Odds: Lakers Make Their Move
Mavs Given Glimmer of Hope
Huge Showdown Set in LA
The LA Lakers continue their climb toward a playoff spot after a tough OT win at the Utah Jazz, but now attention turns to their inner city showdown with the Clippers. Let’s take a look at the NBA Playoff Odds and see how things are shaping up in the final week of the regular season.
The Lakers almost blew a double-digit lead with under 2 minutes to play in regulation against an understrength Jazz team, but managed to eventually prevail 135-133 in OT. That win moves them level with the Clippers ahead of their meeting on Wednesday night, with both teams sporting a 41-38 record.
The Clipper have a significant rest advantage here and there are early suggestions that the Lakers could end up sitting some of their starters given the tough schedule spot and the fact the team struggled to leave Salt Lake City due to inclement weather.
A loss for the Lakers would be their 11th straight to their cross-town rivals and could leave them firmly entrenched in the play-in picture after the Golden State Warriors picked up an important home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Warriors used a huge 4th quarter surge to record a 136-125 win that moved them into the #5 seed and leaves them 0.5 games above the two LA teams.
The New Orleans Pelicans suffered a tough home loss to the Sacramento Kings as 4.0-point favorites, going down 121-103. It was just their second loss in their last nine games and leaves them 1.0 games behind the clippers who currently occupy that #6 seed.
That said, the reward for the #5 seed will be a first-round meeting with the Phoenix Suns who are yet to lose a game with Kevin Durant in the lineup. While Durant’s NBA player stats aren’t what they were when he was in Brooklyn the team seems to have integrated him into their rotations seamlessly as they recorded a comfortable 115-94 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
Mavs Given Hope After Thunder Loss
The Dallas Mavericks are back in action Wednesday night as they play host to a Kings team playing their second game of a road back-to-back.
With the Thunder losing to Golden State the Mavs now have a chance to move to level with OKC 38-42 on the season. The Thunder do own the tiebreaker between the two teams though so Dallas still needs to likely win out and hope that the drop at least another game in order to jump them.
The Thunder have a road game in Utah next up as they face the Jazz before finishing their season at home to the Memphis Grizzlies. If they manage to win both then they will secure the final play-in spot regardless of what the Mavs manage to pull off down the stretch.
The Minnesota Timberwolves officially clinched their play-in spot with a 107-102 win at the Brooklyn Nets as they put an end to their recent three-game skid.
While a path to a top six spot seems lost they could still secure a home play-in game and push for the #7 seed – especially when you consider they end their regular season campaign with a home game against the Pelicans.
Things Could Get Even More Complicated
As if things aren’t already messy when looking at the Western Conference standings we still need to brace ourselves for the possibility that we could be staring at a 4-way tie involving the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors and Pelicans.
The outcome of the Lakers vs Clippers matchup will play a pivotal role in deciding seedings should that be the case. If the Clippers were to win as 3.0-point favorites and all four teams finish with identical records, here’s how the seedings would look based on tiebreaker rules:
5. Pelicans
6. Clippers
7. Lakers
8. Warriors
That would set up a first-round meeting between the Suns and Pelicans for the second straight season, while the Clippers would take on the Kings in a best-of-seven series.
However, if the Lakers manage to snatch the upset win according to the NBA betting lines on Wednesday night and the four teams finish level, here’s how the seedings would look:
5. Lakers
6. Pelicans
7. Clippers
8. Warriors
A first-round meeting between Kevin Durant and LeBron James would make for arguably the most exciting matchup in the playoffs and would be the first time they meet in a playoff environment since the 2017-18 NBA Finals.
There’s still plenty of action coming up to round off the regular season and we’ll be sure to keep tracking the NBA Playoff Odds as we wrap up the regular season.
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