If you are anything like Andrew and me, at this point of the season you are keeping your eye on the Western Conference playoff seeding and the top eight teams battling for position in addition to tracking the Nuggets. Well, there are a couple big games this evening …
I wanted to give you Stiffs a talking venue for the game this evening … so feel free to post whatever you want in this thread about the games taking place this evening.
Game 1: Oklahoma City Thunder at Utah Jazz … 7 p.m.
Why this game is important: This game impacts the Nuggets in two ways. First, Denver could use a Oklahoma City win tonight so that tomorrow night the Nuggets can recapture the Northwest Division lead … which could go a long way into helping the Nuggets earn a key tiebreaker over the Jazz and Phoenix Suns.
Also, the Nuggets play the Thunder tomorrow night in Oklahoma City … so Denver could use a close game tonight so that perhaps Kevin Durant and Company are a bit wore out for tomorrow’s contest. Is hoping for a worn out team really a good thing? At this point the Nuggets need all the help they can get.
If Denver winds up tied with the Jazz for the division lead at the end of the season we can thank our head-to-head record for allowing us our second division championship thanks to tiebreakers … remember Portland fans? Also, division winners get tiebreakers over non-division winners (the Suns).
Game 2: San Antonio Spurs at Sacramento Kings … 8 p.m. on NBA TV.
Why this game is important: With 29 losses the Spurs are still alive for playoff seeds 2-8 … the four teams battling for the second seed all have 27 losses and the Thunder are hanging on to the 6th seed with 28 losses followed by the Spurs (7th seed) with 29 and the Blazers with 30 losses in the 8th spot.
The 2-8 seeds are going to come down to the last couple of games of the season and maybe even the last games of the season for some teams. Another wild finish out West. The Spurs are playing very well lately and are coming off a big win (100-81) against the Lakers in Los Angeles that got Phil Jackson to whine about the officials and how his Lakers are being picked on by the refs.
Are the Spurs back? I don't know, but playing a veteran team in the first round that is catching fire is going to be very dangerous.
Tracking these games is both fun and a little stressful … it's always fun to see teams the Nuggets are battling in the standings drop games and hopefully the Jazz will drop one tonight.
ntimmons73@yahoo.com
Twitter: Nate_Timmons
Photo courtesy of AP Photos
