Enormous Consequences: West Intrigue Abundant On Tuesday

Mar 27, 2012, 6:00 PM UTC

The Western Conference playoff race is, once again, a bit of a jumbled mess with a few very solid teams currently sitting outside of the top eight. A couple of those teams are in action on Tuesday night, a night that features three big games with playoff implications.

Things in the West kick off at 8:00 p.m. ET, when the Memphis Grizzlies host the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Grizz are coming off of a big win over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center on Sunday, in which Kobe Bryant was benched for a long period of time in the fourth quarter. The Ricky Rubio-less T'Wolves are incredibly just three games out of eighth, because oh my god Kevin Love is an alien.

A mere 30 minutes later, the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks play a crucial in-state rivalry game. Even though Dallas currently sits in fifth place, they're only one game ahead of the ninth-placed Denver Nuggets, who have the day off after putting a beating on the Chicago Bulls on Monday night. Last time the two teams met, Goran Dragic delivered an elbow to the face of Dirk Nowitzki, and his face became a fountain of blood. Dallas went on to win the game in overtime.

The San Antonio Spurs take on the Phoenix Suns at 10:00 p.m. ET, and their best players will be rested. Manu Ginobili sat out against New Orleans on Saturday, while Tim Duncan was rested on Sunday against the Sixers because he is old. I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that a team whose best players frequently do not dress simply because they are old is currently in second place.