Thanks to James Harden's heroics against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, the Houston Rockets won their third straight game and now sit just a half game behind the Golden State Warriors for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. The Rockets have also given themselves a nice little three-game cushion over the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 7 seed.
NBA playoff picture: Rockets moving up, Jazz free falling behind Lakers in West
The Rockets won their third straight game on Sunday and are now a half game out of the No. 6 seed. Meanwhile, the Jazz continued their free fall by losing their fourth straight.
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As for those Lakers, it’s looking more and more like it will be the Dallas Mavericks rather than the Utah Jazz who will have to be worried about for that eighth and final spot out West. The Jazz fell to the Mavs on Sunday, which marks their fourth straight loss as the season continues to slide away. Both Utah and Dallas are now 34-36, two games behind Los Angeles for the final playoff spot.
At the top of the conference, the Spurs’ loss to the Rockets has once again opened the door for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder routed the Portland Trail Blazers, moving to just 1½ games out of the No. 1 seed. The Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies were all idle on Sunday, so one game still separates those three teams.
Here are the full West standings:
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