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Including 40-balls from PJ Washington and Donovan Mitchell and a wild nitecap on TNT
With the play-in tournament starting two Tuesdays from now, six teams have punched their ticket past and straight into the playoffs with six spots still up for grabs.
Denver, Memphis, and Milwaukee have all clinched their division titles while Boston, Philadelphia, and Cleveland have all clinched a spot as well. For the teams vying for those final six spots, the desperation is creeping in, and you could really feel it bleed through the TV screens, especially as we got further into the night.
The only losing team that didn’t finish within 15 or fewer was Boston, our first game of the night, who’s already pretty secure in their playoff positioning:
Wizards breeze by Celtics, 130-111
Nearly a wire-to-wire victory for Washington, the latest lead Boston held came with more than six minutes remaining in the first quarter. Wizards had the height advantage with Kristaps Porzingis going off for 32 points and 13 rebounds, flanked by 25 and 10 from Deni Avdija, both of whom have size advantages over the Celtics’ big rotation.
Boston loses some ground in the race for the East’s top seed now 2.5 games behind Milwaukee, losing in a blowout after three consecutive blowout victories. 11th-seeded Washington is also 2.5 games back of their goal, though they’re just aiming for the play-in tournament in any capacity at this point.
Donovan Mitchell’s 44 points not enough as Hawks beat Cavs 120-118
With 8:56 left in the game, Trae Young hit a triple to give the Hawks 105 points, but they scored just 15 the rest of the way, a stretch that included just five made baskets and two shot clock violations. Along the way, Cleveland used a 16-3 run in the fourth capped off by back-to-back threes from Donovan Mitchell to fight back and that’s when they made it a game again.
Dejounte Murray scored five of the Hawks’ final eight points on his way to a team-best 29 points on 50% shooting. Trae Young scored just 16 points on four made shots, so the 45 points from Atlanta’s backcourt paled in comparison to the 71 points from Cleveland’s backcourt. But Atlanta’s pair got the points that mattered most down the stretch to get the win.
OKC claws back to avoid blowout, still loses to Charlotte in 137-134 thriller
Charlotte was down 93-101 early in the fourth, but then exploded for a 30-9 run to lead 123-110 with just six minutes remaining. Just when it seemed like the Thunder might be on the ropes, they responded with a 19-6 run of their own to tie the game at 129 with just over two left. PJ Washington, who scored a career-high 43 points, gave Charlotte a 132-129 lead which was enough of a head start to close out the win.
As expected in a game that smashes its over like this one does at 271 combined points (44 over than the 227 line set by DraftKings), the box score was filled with standout performers, even beyond Washington’s career night. Former OKC guard Theo Maledon had his best game in a Charlotte uniform with 19 points and nine assists against the team he made his NBA debut with.
Without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the lineup for OKC, someone had to step up and three guys did, scoring 30+ each – Isaiah Joe (33 points on 6-11 3P), Josh Giddey (31 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists), and Jalen Williams (31 points, four assists, and four steals).
Toronto scores by committee in 106-92 win over Heat
There were only five players who had it going offensively in this game; two for Miami and three for Toronto. Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo combined for 54 points on 51.3% shooting, but all other scorers for the Heat shot 29.3% on their way to 38 points. Fred VanVleet was unusually cold for the Raptors, scoring just 12 points on 13 shots, but Pascal Siakam (26), OG Anunoby (22), and Scottie Barnes (22) were able to do enough. Both squads remain firmly in the East’s play-in.
Grizzlies keep win streak alive after beating Magic 113-108
Orlando has shown in recent weeks that they’re no longer a team to be taken lightly. They proved that Tuesday, starting out with a 10-7 lead after a few minutes. Memphis then rattled off a 32-7 run and maintained that lead for most of the way through, barring a 15-point spurt in 70 seconds to close out the game by the Magic.
With Ja Morant sitting this one out due to his “‘return-to-play’ protocol,” Desmond Bane stepped up with 31 points and eight rebounds to help best 49 combined points from Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. With three games on either side of them and wins in seven straight games, the Grizzlies appear pretty locked into that #2 spot out West.
Warriors get ahold of themselves, beat Pelicans 120-109
This was a shenanigan-filled games with an array of technical and flagrant fouls in the first half alone, starting with some chippiness between Draymond Green and Brandon Ingram followed immediately by Green running over Herb Jones and proceeding to kick him in the head. The Pelicans took advantage, extending their lead out to 20 as Green sat on the bench cooling down.
The patented “third quarter Warriors” showed up to Chase Center to turn a 17-point halftime deficit into just a 4-point deficit going into the final 12 minutes. They compounded that with a 16-4 run in the fourth to take a multi-possession lead before Steph Curry hit the first dagger with 3:20, giving the Warriors a double-digit lead on a deep triple; the game’s all-time shooting king finished with 39 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and three steals.
