NBA Playoff Picture: Does anyone want the final spots in the East?

WHAT MATTERED MOST

A subjective ranking of the results that mattered most to the playoff bracket.

1. Indiana Pacers 108, Toronto Raptors 90

One week ago, after the Pacers blew a fourth-quarter lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a despondent Paul George blasted his team for showing “no urgency, no sense of urgency, no winning pride.” Indy showed that kind of pride, passion and fight on Tuesday, climbing out of a 19-point first-half hole to run away from the Raptors late thanks to another monster night from George (35 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals) and a second-half injection of sneer and swagger from recently reacquired shooting guard Lance Stephenson.

As predicted, Stephenson received a hero’s welcome from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse faithful, and then proceeded to get villainous on the Raps to the tune of 12 points (all in the fourth quarter), three assists, two rebounds, one steal and one near-brawl-inciting closing-seconds layup in just 25 minutes of work. A pretty eventful return to Indianapolis, I must admit!

The Pacers improved to 38-40, moving a half-game ahead of the Miami Heat in the race for the East’s final playoff spot, and now own the same record as the seventh-seeded Chicago Bulls (who top the Pacers via a superior record within the Central Division). The Raptors fell to 47-31, giving them the same record as the Washington Wizards, though Toronto remains in third place by virtue of holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Wiz.

[Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Baseball: It’s not too late to get in the game]

In a weird scheduling quirk, both Toronto and Washington will face the Heat, New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons over the next three games before finishing the season on the road. The Raptors will close out the campaign against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who might still be playing to lock up home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Wizards will finish out in South Beach for a second showdown of the season’s final week with the Heat, who might be playing for their postseason lives.

To get into the playoffs, Miami might have to leapfrog Indiana. And if George keeps playing the way he has of late …

… and the Pacers get the adrenaline boost they’ve needed from Lance …

… that might be a tall order.

2. New York Knicks 100, Chicago Bulls 91

The Bulls entered Wednesday having won four straight games to move into sole possession of seventh place in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. The Knicks entered Wednesday having lost 10 of their last 13 and with their All-Star forward waxing cryptic about writing on walls and chips on tables in the midst of yet another lost season.

So, naturally:

No Derrick Rose, no Kristaps Porzingis, no Joakim Noah, no Lance Thomas, no reason at all for the high-lottery-bound Knicks to win. And yet, the Bulls managed to come out flat on both ends, allowing New York to shoot 54.5 percent in the first half while missing two-thirds of their own shots through two quarters to stake the Knicks to a 14-point halftime lead that they’d never relinquish.

“They came out like they were playing for something and we didn’t,” said Bulls All-Star Jimmy Butler, who scored a game-high 26 points on 9-for-18 shooting with four assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block in 40 minutes of floor time. “They whipped our tail in every aspect of the game.”

That’s not something that’s been said often about the Knicks this season, but it it was largely true on a night where New York led by as many as 25 points, outrebounded the Bulls 53-36, and limited Chicago to just 38.1 percent shooting. Not exactly the kind of effort you need when you’re looking to lock up a playoff berth.

Chicago still looks to have the softest landing of any of the teams in the mix for the East’s seventh and eighth spots. All four of their remaining games will come against high-lottery teams, starting with a trip to the City of Brotherly Love for a matchup with a Philadelphia 76ers team that just gave up 141 points to the Brooklyn Nets. But dealing with Brooklyn — who, as we’ve noted, have been significantly better of late, going 10-12 since the All-Star break with a top-10-caliber defense — twice in the final week might not present the breezy path to the postseason that many expected, especially if the Bulls show up with the kind of performance they authored Tuesday.

3. Utah Jazz 106, Portland Trail Blazers 87

The Blazers aren’t going to make this easy on us, are they? A playoff candidacy that looked all but assured last Tuesday is now much more complicated thanks to the Bosnian Beast’s leg fracture and a two-game losing streak that has Portland just a half-game up on the Nuggets for the No. 8 seed.

Worse yet, the Blazers were steamrolled on Tuesday. They shot worse than 40 percent from the field, made 6-of-26 three-pointers, and scored a mere 41 points in the first half. That’s a losing formula for a team so dependent on its offense, and the Jazz proved as much with a terrific shooting performance that featured a 13-of-23 showing from deep. Stars Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gobert combined for 50 points and were far and away the two best players on the court.

The good news for the Blazers is that everything gets easier from here. Their last four aren’t easy, but they play all of them at home and could get the Spurs resting key guys in their penultimate game of the season. The Nuggets’ schedule features three road games, and they haven’t exactly been world-beaters of late.

The Jazz remain a game ahead of the Clippers in their battle for homecourt advantage in the first round, which could be meaningful for a team that hasn’t participated in the postseason since 2012. More important, though, is the fact that Utah just walloped a legitimate team with physically dominant, all-encompassing performance. They are going to play some brutal games in the playoffs, and I mean that as a compliment.

4. Denver Nuggets 134, New Orleans Pelicans 131

The Nuggets owe Jrue Holiday for helping to turn their slim playoff hopes into something more substantial. With his team down one point and just 15 seconds on the clock, the Pelicans point guard lost control of the ball to commit a backcourt violation, after which Emmanuel Mudiay split a pair of free throws to make it a 133-131 game. Left with a chance to make up for his mistake, Holiday then turned it over again with a pass stolen by Gary Harris. Those turnovers wasted tremendous games from Anthony Davis (41 points) and DeMarcus Cousins (30 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists), who now seem to be amplifying each other’s strengths after an uneasy start to their relationship.

[Follow Ball Don’t Lie on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

The Nuggets offense was stellar, as well. Kenneth Faried was scoreless in 10 minutes, but the seven other players who saw action all scored at least 13 points. Denver also shot 53-of-99 from the field and never scored fewer than 27 points in a quarter. Just don’t ask about the defense.

The playoff math looks doable for the Nuggets, but they still face a significant climb to catch the Blazers. They face the Rockets in Houston on Wednesday before home games with the Pelicans and Thunder, after which they finish on the road at the Mavericks (in what could be Dirk Nowitzki’s final home game) and at the Thunder. The Blazers’ tiebreaker ownership means that the Nuggets are going to need help, and the schedule is tricky enough that even two losses in five might spell doom. Regardless, they have hope now that they did not before Tuesday’s tip.

5. Cleveland Cavaliers 122, Orlando Magic 102

Welcome to the world of the Cavaliers, where a 20-point win can be impressive and discouraging all at once. The woeful Magic led 55-53 at the half, a sign not so much that they were heading for a win but that the Cavs couldn’t muster enough energy to crush a team whose season will likely be defined by predictable disappointment and the accidental leaking of its offseason targets (for a general manager likely to be fired, of course).

Then the Cavs won the third quarter 43-20, which lends credence to the argument that they’re just messing around before getting to the real work of the playoffs. The final stats look just fine — LeBron James had a triple double, they shot 18-of-36 from beyond the arc, and Orlando shot 38.4 percent. Nevertheless, it’s hard to take too much confidence from the inconsistency.

The win brings the Cavs to 50-27, an identical record to the Celtics and enough to put the defending champions in the No. 1 seed for at least one day. We mean that literally — the two rivals face off on Wednesday night in Boston. If the Cavs win, they open up a one-game lead and win the season series 3-1 for the tiebreaker. If the Celtics win, they get a one-game lead, tie the season series, and match the Cavs in the conference record tiebreaker. That scenario would send the tiebreaker to the little-used “record vs. in-conference playoff teams” tiebreaker, which is really not worth thinking about until we have to. Go watch a movie or something instead.

6. Oklahoma City Thunder 110, Milwaukee Bucks 79

This result was largely overshadowed by Russell Westbrook’s 41st triple-double of the season, a historic achievement that ties him with Oscar Robertson for the NBA’s single-season record. Yet the Thunder superstar’s 12 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists were just part of a dominant showing for the West’s No. 6 seed. OKC used a 35-19 second quarter to open significant separation at the half and was never threatened afterwards. No one on the team played more than Anthony Roberson’s 28 minutes, and Westbrook got to rest the last 14 and change.

The win mostly allowed the Thunder to hold firm in sixth — they now have 2 1/2 games of separation on either side of them and seem headed for an MVP-riffic matchup with James Harden and the Houston Rockets in the first round. This is all very good for narrative and should make the league’s broadcast partners very happy.

The Bucks’ loss is bad news, especially given that they were blown out and never looked in it. They’re still a half-game ahead of the Atlanta Hawks for the East’s No. 5 seed but have already lost that tiebreaker with one fewer game left to play. For that matter, their remaining four games aren’t especially easy — at Indiana, at Philadelphia, at home vs. a still-alive Charlotte that could sneak past one of the conference’s several disappointments, and at Boston. Perhaps they’ll get lucky and face a Celtics group that already has its seed locked in.

7. Washington Wizards 118, Charlotte Hornets 111

There was a point in this game at which it looked like the Hornets were set to disrupt the race for the East’s final playoff spots and sneak ahead of the disappointing likes of the Bulls. Alas, Charlotte’s 63-51 halftime lead was not built to last. The Wizards pulled ahead with a 36-18 third quarter and controlled the fourth quarter to come away with a convincing win. John Wall put up 13 assists and six steals in an excellent performance, but it was reserve Jason Smith who made the difference with five three-pointers, or one more than he converted all of last season.

The win allowed the Wizards to pull into a virtual tie with the Raptors for third place, although they have already lost that tiebreaker and now sit in the No. 4 seed. The schedule is in their favor late, but playing two of four against the No. 9 Miami Heat could introduce a level of desperation that outweighs Washington’s desire. Plus, finishing fourth could mean missing the Cavs until the conference finals, which is probably a better outcome.

The Hornets are technically still in things, but they’re two games back of the suddenly resolute Pacers and would have to jump two teams to make the playoffs. At least they’re not going away quietly.

8. San Antonio Spurs 95, Memphis Grizzlies 89 (OT)

Here’s a game that feels like it should be higher even if the stakes weren’t that important. The Spurs managed not to allow the Warriors a chance to clinch homecourt advantage later in the night, but they’re still 3 1/2 back with four left to play and are essentially locked into the No. 2 seed. Meanwhile, the loss didn’t matter much to the Grizzlies, who now sit 2 1/2 games back of the Thunder and figure to face the Spurs in the first round. The opposite result wouldn’t have changed much — it just would have shifted the timetable of the seemingly inevitable.

Maybe it was that form of finality that gave this game something of a playoff feel. Or maybe it was a terrific ending to regulation in which the Grizzlies found Zach Randolph for a quickfire go-ahead bucket out of a timeout, only to see the Spurs come back immediately to hit LaMarcus Aldridge for a wonderful lob to tie it and force overtime. (We’ll have more on this sequence in a bit.) The Spurs controlled the extra period, but the result almost felt irrelevant.

What might mean a lot is this eye injury to Mike Conley, who did not return:

Conley sound more annoyed than devastated in the locker room after the game — maybe because his eye was nearly closed — and the Grizzlies’ near-certain seeding at least affords him time to get things right. Here’s hoping he doesn’t suffer any ill effects in the first round, because the series wouldn’t be the same without him at full strength.

9. Golden State Warriors 121, Minnesota Timberwolves 107

Congratulations to the Warriors for getting to a point where an impressive win like this one doesn’t feel like a story at all. Up a respectable eight points after two quarters, Golden State put together their typical post-halftime highlight reel and cruised to a victory. Klay Thompson scored 41 points on 7-of-14 shooting from deep, and Stephen Curry put up 19 points that seemed more like 70 thanks to his dominance during the game-deciding run.

The Warriors are going to clinch homecourt advantage at some point — the only question is when. They announced after the game that Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala will rest for Wednesday’s road game at the Suns, which is a likely win regardless. The magic number is now a measly two, so get ready to spend four games a series in Oakland very soon.

MVP OF THE DAY

A subjective choice for the player most valuable to his team, on just one day and determined by the NBA playoff picture.

If the Pacers make the playoffs, it will be because Paul George got them there. The All-Star wing continued his scintillating form with 35 points, 10 rebounds, and the leading role in a comfortable win over a top-four seed in the East. It’s hard to tell if George is actually enjoying himself only a week after calling out his teammates, but it might not matter to his future with the franchise. Happy or not, he’s playing like the face of a franchise should.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

A subjective choice for the most important play of the day as determined by all the same stuff listed in the last section.

We’ve established that the Spurs’ win over the Grizzlies didn’t mean much to the standings and seeds, but that doesn’t make the game’s regulation-closing sequence isn’t worthy of special notice. This call-and-response is why we get excited about the playoffs in the first place — two good teams bring out the best each other and reveal new wrinkles after days and days of competition. Just enjoy it. Don’t worry if their seeds are all but clinched.

Dan Devine (@yourmandevine) also contributed to this post.

– – – – – – –

Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @FreemanEric