There were the winners and losers last night. Then, there were the real winners and losers last night. Indiana, Boston, Memphis, New Orleans, San Antonio and Oklahoma City all probably threw parties. Dallas, Miami, Houston and Charlotte all could’ve traded tears. We want to say the playoff picture is starting to take shape. But in reality, it’s only clear for the next 24 hours. That doesn’t mean we can’t speculate though … No one in the past week has been as impressive as Denver. First, they beat the Lakers in Staples. Then last night after a tough game against the Thunder, they came back and won by eight in Dallas. The Mavs have their own issues, and fell behind by 16. Still, even with Jason Kidd and Tyson Chandler in street clothes, they tied it late before Denver and J.R. Smith (13 points in the fourth quarter, 23 overall) put it away … The Thunder clinched the Northwest Division by holding off the Clippers by four. There have been arguments over the better cornerstone – Kevin Durant or Blake Griffin – but both of them did their thing in this one. Durant (29 points) was smooth, but Griffin (35 points, 11 rebounds) was a killer. Only he can sprain an ankle, and then a few plays later, catch a lob and reverse it … And with their win and the Dallas loss, Oklahoma City is actually just one game back from the third seed. We have this weird feeling that they are just destined, no matter what, to play the Lakers in the playoffs … Speaking of those Lakers, they need to call an exorcist or something. Jekyll & Hyde are back again. They got lit up in Golden State, losing by eight in a game that wasn’t even that close. David Lee (22 points, 17 rebounds) and Monta Ellis (26 points) led a second-half turnaround that was embarrassingly one-sided. Kobe Bryant (25 points) had a crazy reverse in the third quarter, and tried to get L.A. back in it by himself, but it wasn’t enough. Three losses in a row and now the Lakers go to Portland on Friday. That should be interesting … Pregame, it was reported that Phil Jackson put Ron Artest on Ellis because he thinks Kobe gets too involved in one-on-one battles with Ellis … Okay, is there another word besides “soft” to describe Pau Gasol (18 points, 7 rebounds)? After being called out earlier this week, last night was not the best timing for a bad game. What if we said “unaggressive?” Does that sound any better? … Read More: The Hornets put the Rockets out of their misery, a showdown in Philly, and the Spurs continue to crush everything in their path …
New Orleans clinched a playoff berth and basically ended Houston’s playoff hopes with an eight-point win behind a near triple-double from Chris Paul (28 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds). But it was his backup, Jarrett Jack (19 points), who made all of the big plays. He rebounded a Kyle Lowry miss in the final 30 seconds, then made two free throws, then drew an offensive foul on Brad Miller by following Lowry off a screen and then hit two more free throws to put it away … Lost in all of the West shakeups were two seed-altering games in the East … In the battle for the sixth seed in the East, New York caught Philly, beating them by five as Carmelo Anthony (31 points, 11 rebounds) buried the Sixers. After Andre Iguodala banged a three to bring the hosts within one, Anthony faced him up and hit his own pull-up three. Before he shot it, the announcers were already yelling, “It’s a pull-up! It’s a pull-up.” It didn’t matter … Miami dropped below the Celtics in the East because of an ugly 90-85 home loss to Milwaukee. With no Dwyane Wade, Miami’s offense was stagnant all night. Down the stretch, there was no movement. Everyone stood around waiting for LeBron James (29 points, 8 assists) to make something happen. And of all people, Carlos Delfino (9 points) hit the two biggest shots of the game, both corner three-pointers to first put the Bucks up in the final two minutes and then one to ice the win. As Lisa Salters interviewed him after the game, we suddenly realized we aren’t sure if we’ve ever heard Delfino speak before … It looks like San Antonio is officially back on track, destroying the Kings by 32 for their third consecutive win. Manu Ginobili had 25 points and for Sacramento, it wasn’t pretty, especially in the second half. But Tyreke Evans (16 points) did have probably the best dunk of his life … Other headlines from around the league: Dwight Howard picked up another technical after tossing the ball because of a free-throw violation and will be suspended for a game. Orlando and Gilbert Arenas (25 points) still won by nine against Charlotte in overtime; Cleveland and J.J. Hickson (28 points) won again, this time by eight over the Raptors; Marcin Gortat rumbled to 20 points and 16 rebounds in the Suns’ 10-point win over Minnesota; Detroit beat the Nets by seven behind Greg Monroe (20 points, 10 rebounds) even though the rookie wasn’t as good as Brook Lopez (39 points); and Danny Granger (25 points) led Indiana to a 136-112 blowout of the Wizards, clinching a playoff berth … We’re out like Delfino postgame interviews.
