The Western Conference had a good Wednesday night. All four teams in the West quagmire won their games: the Pelicans beat the Pacers behind another brilliant Anthony Davis performance, the Nuggets handled the anchor-wielding Bulls, the Clippers got a much-needed win in Milwaukee, and the Spurs took out the Wizards.
NBA playoff race: Uh, the Sixers are now the No. 4 seed
Philadelphia has reached the cupcake portion of its schedule, and they are taking advantage.
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
That wasn’t actually enough for any team to move up in the West playoff bracket, which remains static. The Pelicans and Jazz both have winnable games on Thursday; wins would knot each team up with the seed just in front of them.
Rockets (1) vs. Jazz (8)
Thunder (4) vs. Pelicans (5)
Blazers (3) vs. Spurs (6)
Warriors (2) vs. Timberwolves (7)
The Cavaliers took another big step toward winning the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference with their huge comeback win over the Raptors. Cleveland still has 29 losses. Meanwhile, both the Pacers and Wizards lost to those West quagmire squads. They each now have 31 losses.
The Sixers beat up the Grizzlies to get to 40 wins. With just 30 losses, Philadelphia moves into the No. 4 seed. What a rise!
The Heat win and Bucks’ loss essentially give Miami a two-game advantage in the race for No. 7 due to the tiebreaker. Winning No. 7 is increasingly valuable with every day that Kyrie Irving misses and every other Celtics that goes down. That could be a winnable series for the lower seed.
Here’s the updated East bracket.
Raptors (1) vs. Bucks (8)
Sixers (4) vs. Pacers (5)
Cavaliers (3) vs. Wizards (6)
Celtics (2) vs. Heat (7)
Philadelphia has another cupcake game (vs. Orlando) on Thursday, while the other teams with things at stake in the East are inactive.
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