NBA scores 2016: The Thunder nearly played an April Fool’s prank on themselves

Since the 2012 NBA Finals, where Oklahoma City fell to Miami in five games, the Thunder have not lost a playoff series when fully healthy. In 2013, Russell Westbrook went down in the first round. In 2014, Serge Ibaka returned too late for the Thunder to beat the Spurs. In 2015, Kevin Durant missed nearly the entire season with foot problems.

The Thunder have played out like a tragedy, with the James Harden deal backfiring about as poorly as possible and the injuries preventing sustained playoff success. In 2012, it seemed inevitable that the young Thunder nucleus would be back in some way or another within a matter of years. Now, that stat about the healthy Thunder roster never losing gets thrown around a lot, as we all try to give Oklahoma City a chance to prove themselves one way or another even while thinking, deep down, that they have no chance.

There's many reasons it's easy to think that, most starting with the inevitability surrounding the Warriors and the Spurs, two teams having two of the greatest regular seasons in NBA history. But games like the one Oklahoma City played on Thursday also do nothing to reaffirm the idea that the Thunder could be anything but a progress check manifesting itself as a second-round series. The Thunder won, beating the Clippers 119-117, but it was a performance that did exactly the opposite of inspiring awe.

Doc Rivers knows Blake Griffin's return is imminent, and that he'll need plenty of time to reintegrate into playing with his fellow teammates. So, as the Clippers traveled to Oklahoma City on Thursday, he chose rest, sitting Chris Paul, J.J. Redick and DeAndre Jordan out, with Paul Pierce also out with a minor injury. Down four games in the standings with seven to play, it was a white flag that no, the Clippers weren't going to catch Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City must not have got the memo about the Clippers using their bench squad. They trailed at halftime and against at the end of the third quarter, as the Clippers second unit wrecked havoc with red-hot shotmaking. Austin Rivers scored a career-high 32 points and Jamal Crawford dropped 32 more, shooting a combined 12-of-17 from behind the three-point line. Some shots that duo made were exceedingly difficult ones. But some were not.

The Thunder are a byproduct of the NBA five years ago, when teams accumulated big men at all costs. They have a wealth at center and power forward, but not enough minutes for the modern four-out offense every team has learned to love. Serge Ibaka only played 28 minutes, Enes Kanter ran out there for 18, Nick Collison didn't play and Mitch McGary -- who has been a productive NBA player for stretches! -- is in the D-League.

Instead, Oklahoma City is stuck with a mismatched bag of spare NBA wings that someone must have stuck in the back of a closet for a couple years before salvaging. Their options are too rigid: for shooting, it's Anthony Morrow; for offense, Kyle Singler; for defense, Andre Roberson; for laughs, Dion Waiters; for an attempted facsimile of both sides (but really not quite either), there's Randy Foye.

The Bulls keep playoff hopes alive

The best-case scenario for Chicago played out on Thursday. They entered the fourth quarter against Houston sitting two games back of Indiana for the No. 8 seed with the Rockets in control. By the time the frame ended, Chicago had completed a comeback in the final minutes and found out the the Pacers had been blown out by Orlando, cutting down their deficit on the final playoff spot to just a game.

It really looked like Houston would prevail by watching the first three quarters, although both teams showed signs of fatigued disinterest. Instead, Jimmy Butler led the way as he usually does, scoring 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds and six assists. Just when it looked like the Bulls were ready to bow out of the playoff race for good, here they roar back, determined to put somewhat of a positive spin on a hugely disappointing season. We'll see whether they can make that happen.

There's five teams vying for four spots in the West this year, and as of this moment, the Rockets are the odd team out. It's unlikely that remains the case -- their schedule is easier than the Mavericks or Jazz, and Houston only trails them by half-game after entering the day in a three-way tie for the No. 7 seed. Dallas plays both the Rockets and the Jazz before the season concludes, leaving plenty of room for these teams to rise and fall. Also on Friday, the No. 6-seeded Trail Blazers beat Boston, bettering their odds but not completely eliminating the chance that they'll end up as the ugly duckling when the season ends.

What complicates everything is the Memphis Grizzlies, who have been ravaged by injuries while losing eight of their last 10 games. There's a plausible case to be made that the Grizzlies don't beat any of their final seven opponents, given the way they've been playing and a very difficult schedule, something that would put them in danger of tumbling into the lottery. It's still unlikely -- a single win would probably be enough to save them. But there's a chance.

Austin Rivers scored a career-high 32 and Michael Beasley almost won a game in the same night. pic.twitter.com/yMY08DQWoP

— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) April 1, 2016

J.R. Smith threw an alley oop too ambitious for even LeBron James.

Cavaliers 107, Nets 87 (Fear the Sword recap | Nets Daily recap)

Magic 114, Pacers 94 (Orlando Pinstriped Post recap | Indy Cornrows recap)

Pelicans 101, Nuggets 95 (The Bird Writes recap | Denver Stiffs recap)

Trail Blazers 116, Celtics 109 (Blazer's Edge recap | CelticsBlog recap)

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