Chicago (USA), Apr 9 (EFE).- We had to wait for the 82 regular season games to determine the final balance in the West and this Sunday the Los Angeles Clippers finished the year in fifth place and will meet with Phoenix Suns, fourth, in a vibrant first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Clippers’ victory, precisely against the Suns, dropped the Golden State Warriors to sixth place, so the defending champions will play against the Sacramento Kings.
In the ‘play-in’, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz and finished seventh, so they will play at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who took eighth place from the New Orleans Pelicans.
SUNS 114-119 CLIPPERS
Norman Powell, with 29 points, and Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook, with 25 each, gave the Clippers the victory in Phoenix and will face the Suns in the first round, finishing fifth, ahead of the Golden State warriors.
The Suns played the game without Kevin Durant, Chris Paul or Devin Booker and avoided facing the Warriors, although a high-voltage first round awaits them against some very competitive Clippers pending the recovery of Paul George.
BLAZERS 101-157 WARRIORS
The champions sent a message to the rest of the suitors by shielding their presence in the ‘playoffs’ with a 56-point victory against the Blazers, with a scoring recital. They shot with a 60% accuracy rate (58 of 96) and connected 27 triples.
Steph Curry signed 25 points, with five triples, and Klay Thompson had 20, with four triples. He also sealed 25 points, with four triples, coming off the bench.
The Warriors finished sixth and will play the first round of the ‘play-in’ against the Kings.
LAKERS 128-117 JAZZ
LeBron James signed a monumental performance, with 36 points, six rebounds, six assists and eight triples, and allowed the Lakers to finish seventh, which will give them home field advantage against the Wolves.
The Angelenos, who will play the ‘play-in’ for the second time in three years, after failing to qualify last year, it will be worth it to beat the Wolves to access the ‘playoffs’.
TIMBERWOLVES 113-108 PELICANS
The Wolves won the direct match against the Pelicans and managed to finish eighth, which allows them, a priori, to avoid a play-in round.
The duel was marked by a tough altercation between Wolves players in the first half. Frenchman Rudy Gobert punched his teammate Kyle Anderson and his team took him to the locker room, without him competing again.
MAVERICKS 117-138 SPURS
After being officially knocked out of the postseason on Friday, in a game in which the front office decided to shut out its stars, the Mavericks closed out a year to forget with a humiliation at home against the Spurs.
The Texans played without Luka Doncic, who did not appear before the media to comment on the failure of the Mavericks’ season. The Slovenian did speak this Sunday and assured after the game that he is “happy” in Dallas and settled the rumors about his possible departure.
NUGGETS 109-95 KINGS
The Nuggets, already secure in the West lead, beat the Kings without Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon.
Bruce Brown, with 21 points, led a group of seven Nuggets players in double figures.
THUNDER 115-100 GRIZZLIES
The center Kenneth Lofton Jr. signed a double double of 42 points and fourteen rebounds, but the Grizzlies, without Ja Morant, Desmond Bane or Jaren Jackson, fell in the field of the Thunder, in a game without significance for both franchises.
Tre Mann, with a triple double of 24 points, twelve rebounds and twelve assists, was the best of the Thunder.
CELTICS 120-114 HAWKS
Neither the Celtics nor the Hawks, second and eighth respectively, wanted to risk their stars. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford and Marcus Smart were absent in Boston, while Atlanta played without Trae Young, Dejounte Murray and Clint Capela, among others.
Faced with these casualties, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser staged a triple festival. The first hit nine and the second eight for a total of 25 three-point shots as a team.
RAPTORS 121-105 BUCKS
Against a starless Bucks, the Raptors triumphed driven by 23 points and four 3-pointers from Gary Trent, in a game in which the Canadians rotated Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet.
Toronto is already thinking about Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls. The Bucks, the best team in the NBA (58-24), will face a team from the ‘play-in’.
BULLS 103-81 PISTONS
The Bulls were one of the few franchises that did not rotate their stars and, with DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine starting, they triumphed against the Pistons, bottom of the East.
LaVine had 17 points and DeRozan 16 for some Bulls who will play the play-in against the Raptors on Wednesday.
NETS 105-134 76ERS
Mikal Bridges joined the small club of players who played 83 games in an NBA regular season, starting the Brooklyn Nets game against the Philadelphia 76ers, in which Joel Embiid and James Harden did not play.
Only 42 players in NBA history have achieved this mark and Bridges did it after playing 56 games with the Phoenix Suns and after playing 27 with the Nets, which he joined in February in an operation that brought Kevin Durant to Arizona.
KNICKS 136-141 PACERS
Already without postseason options, the Pacers won at Madison Square Garden with 26 points from Bennedict Mathurin and a brilliant 19 of 54 team on three-pointers (55.9%).
In the Knicks, rivals of the Cavaliers in the first round of the ‘play-ins’, the best was Obi Toppin, with 34 points and five triples.
CAVALIERS 95-106 HORNETS
Spaniard Ricky Rubio started for the second straight game and had six points, five rebounds and seven assists in 26 minutes in the Cavaliers’ loss against the Hornets.
Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Caris LeVert did not play for the Cavs.
HEAT 123-110 MAGIC
The Heat paid homage to Udonis Haslem, their flag and triple NBA champion, who retires at 42 after twenty years in the franchise. The forward will remain in the team’s coaching staff.
Haslem gave himself an afternoon of 24 points, with three triples and three rebounds. Jimmy Butler didn’t play, and stars like Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo started, but only played a few minutes.
WIZARDS 109-114 ROCKETS
Jabari Smith led a group of seven players over ten points with twenty points, in the Rockets’ victory at the Wizards’ field.
The Spanish Usman Garuba captured three rebounds and achieved a steal, without points, in twelve minutes on the track.
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= Classifications:
– Eastern Conference:
.1. Milwaukee Bucks 58-24
.2. Boston Celtics 57-25
.3. Philadelphia 76ers 54-28
.4. Cleveland Cavaliers 51-31
.5. New York Knicks 47-35
.6. Brooklyn Nets 45-37
.7. Miami Heat 44-38
.8. Atlanta Hawks 41-41
.9. Toronto Raptors 41-41
10. Chicago Bulls 40-42
11.Indiana Pacers 35-47
12.Washington Wizards 35-47
13. Orlando Magic 34-48
14. Charlotte Hornets 27-55
15. Detroit Pistons 17-65
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– Western Conference:
.1. Denver Nuggets 53-29
.2. Memphis Grizzlies 51-31
.3. Sacramento Kings 48-34
.4. Phoenix Suns 45-36
.5. Golden State Warriors 44-38
.6. LA Clippers 43-38
.7. Los Angeles Lakers 43-39
.8. Minnesota Timberwolves 42-40
.9. New Orleans Pelicans 42-40
10. Oklahoma City Thunder 40-42
11. Dallas Mavericks 38-44
12. Utah Jazz 37-45
13. Portland Trail Blazers 33-49
14. Houston Rockets 22-60
15. San Antonio Spurs 22-60
