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15. Miami Heat (15)
Two straight losses to the Celtics closed Miami’s week, and Josh Richardson left Wednesday’s defeat with a groin injury after he played just 16 minutes. He hadn’t played since March 26 and was in a walking boot as recently as this past Saturday. Perhaps Richardson tried to return from one injury before he was fully healed and suffered another.
Now, his season is likely over, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
That desperation is understandable. The Heat are 38-40 and sit a half-game behind the Magic and Nets for one of the two final playoff spots. Orlando also holds the tiebreaker against Miami.
14. Orlando Magic (14)
Jonathan Isaac is the easy defensive standout to spot; it’s tough to miss the 6’10” forward materializing in passing lanes and instantaneously rotating into proper help position. But Orlando’s defense-fueled push back into the playoff race has another source: backup center Khem Birch.
Though his reserve role limits the volume of his contributions, Birch ranks fifth in field-goal percentage allowed inside six feet (among players with at least 40 games played and 2.5 shots defended per contest).
The Magic went 2-1 this week, moving back into eighth in the East. If they keep that position, it will be because they have developed one of the best defenses in the league, ranking second in the NBA since Feb. 1.
13. Indiana Pacers (13)
The Tyreke Evans signing sure has been a bust, hasn’t it? The 29-year-old is averaging career lows in just about everything that matters, including points, rebounds, assists and true shooting percentage.
Indiana bested Detroit twice to salvage a 2-2 week, but it is just 9-12 since the All-Star break. Friday’s tilt with Boston will go a long way toward determining which of those two teams, tied at 47-32, winds up with home-court advantage in the first round.
12. Oklahoma City Thunder (12)
It takes more than one factor to produce a skid like the Thunder have been on since the All-Star break, a stretch during which they’ve gone just 8-13. But the task of sorting out this mess should start with a focus on abysmal first-quarter play.
Since the break, OKC has been outscored in the opening frame by 15.9 points per 100 possessions—the second-worst margin in the league.
Oh, and Russell Westbrook became just the second player in NBA history to post at least 20 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists in a game, producing those totals during OKC’s only win this week, a 119-103 defeat of the Lakers on Tuesday.
11. San Antonio Spurs (9)
When the Houston Rockets beat the Kings 119-108 on Saturday, it assured the Spurs of a 22nd consecutive playoff appearance.
Twenty-two postseason trips. In a row. Twenty! Two!
San Antonio’s consistent success is historic, as its streak tied the record long held exclusively by the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers, who reached the postseason every year from 1950 to 1971.
It’s been a weird season for the Spurs, who had the league’s best offense for December, a 1-7 stretch in February that seemed catastrophic and a subsequent 9-0 run from Feb. 27 to March 18 during which they produced the league’s second-best defensive rating. Cram all that together, and you wind up with the same outcome from the last 21 seasons: a playoff berth.
San Antonio only went 1-2 this week, though. With the Celtics trending up, the Spurs had to slide.
from Viral News Show http://bit.ly/2WS3Wob
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