NBA scores 2016: The bottom half of the West playoffs limps toward the finish

Teams like Dallas and Memphis aren’t earning style points as they lock up playoff spots, but that doesn’t really matter to them.

by Tim Cato

Apr 9, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

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NBA Friday: Mavericks push past Grizzlies, Jazz blow game to resting Clippers

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The Mavericks hobbled past the Grizzlies, both teams missing key players up and down the roster. The Jazz dropped a game against the Clippers, even though L.A. was resting everybody. The top of the Western Conference has produced the most intrigue this season, between the Warriors' and Spurs' attempts to play nearly perfect basketball, the Clippers staying on top despite injuries and the Thunder just hanging around. The rest of it is a trainwreck.

For Dallas and Memphis, it's not totally their fault. The Grizzlies built a huge lead this season when healthy, one big enough to keep them in the playoffs even if they lose their final three games. But when Marc Gasol went down for the year and a serious Mike Conley injury followed, Memphis sunk quickly. On Friday, they fell to the depleted Mavericks, who are missing Chandler Parsons, Deron Williams and most recently J.J. Barea, but were still competent enough for a sixth straight win.

The Mavericks haven't made much sense all year, but make even less now. They're keeping their season alive with a couple rookies, a 37-year-old Dirk Nowitzki and Raymond Felton, who as recently as last year was mothballed at the end of Dallas' bench. Despite an unclear offensive hierarchy outside of Nowitzki, they somehow scored 103 anyway, now sitting just a game back of Memphis with three to play.

The Grizzlies may very well lose out. They play Golden State twice -- a Golden State team completely locked in on 73 wins -- and Los Angeles, who will likely be at full strength after resting players Friday. That rest night was supposed to be a reprieve for Utah, who themselves are fighting to stave off the Rockets for the Western Conference's final spot. Instead, the Jazz lost 102-99 to Los Angeles' B-team, with their inability to get consistent scoring outside of Gordon Hayward finally coming back to haunt them when they put up just five points in the decisive overtime period.

And then there's the Rockets, the team that's still, for now, on the outside looking in. They're a game back because they lost to the Mavericks and followed it up by blowing a game against the lowly Phoenix Suns. Houston came into the season as a dark horse pick as a real championship contender -- and now they're in real danger of missing the postseason entirely.

These are your Western Conference playoff teams for the bottom four seeds. Portland is the only saving grace -- an inconsistent but over-performing team with an electric scoring backcourt. The rest of the teams are injured, tired, overwhelming or a combination of the three.

But hey, that’s just how basketball goes sometime. Dallas should be proud of their surge even as the season grew the darkest. Memphis is hanging in there as best they can, despite everything. Utah should be proud if they make the playoffs, regardless how it happens. It may be ugly, but the bottom of the Western Conference playoffs aren’t apologizing for anything.

2 more things from Friday

These Raptors really might be different

Toronto has faltered in the playoffs after great regular seasons for a couple years in a row, but this 2016 team feels different. They're having a better regular season than the prior two, for one, pushing well past 50 wins this time. They've mostly done it without DeMarre Carroll, too, and he finally returned on Thursday after missing months.

Carroll rested on Friday, along with Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Luis Scola, and the Raptors blew out an Eastern Conference playoff team anyway. A 111-98 win against the Indiana Pacers came with rookie Norman Powell leading the way, scoring 27 points on just 11 shots thanks to 14-of-19 free throw shooting. Add 19 points from Delon Wright off the bench, and you can't help but be impressed. Toronto finds ways to get it done this season, and that attitude finally looks ready to transfer into the postseason.

The Spurs’ backups -- and Duncan! -- aren’t quite enough

San Antonio played the rest game, putting their bench unit in against Denver ... plus Tim Duncan. After all, Duncan didn't get much burn the night before against the Warriors, so he joined David West, Kyle Anderson, Andre Miller and Jonathon Simmons in the starting five. The faux-Spurs put up a fight against the Nuggets, falling only in the closing minute in a 102-98 Denver win. Still, it was fun to see Duncan run around with some younger dudes like an older dude joining a game with high schoolers at the local rec center.