THE FINAL NBA playoff place will be decided on the final day of the regular season.
The Spurs, Thunder and Pelicans all clinched Western Conference playoff spots on Monday, leaving Wednesday’s matchup between the Nuggets and Timberwolves in Minnesota as a play-in game to reach the playoffs.
Nikola Jokic recorded a triple-double on Monday and Gary Harris knocked down clutch free throws in his return from an 11-game absence as Denver won their sixth straight match in an 88-82 win over the Blazers that puts Portland in danger of losing the number three seed.
The Spurs came from behind to beat the lowly Kings 98-85 to mark their 21st straight playoff berth. San Antonio improved to 33-8 at home this season and currently hold the number five seed in the West due to tiebreakers over the Thunder.
Speaking of Oklahoma City, with a 115-93 road win over the Heat, the Thunder clinched their eighth playoff berth in 10 seasons since moving to Oklahoma. The Thunder outscored Miami 39-12 in the final quarter and Dwyane Wade registered a minus-31 to fuel the win.
Russell Westbrook posted a monster triple-double (23-18-13) – despite a poor shooting night – and he needs 16 rebounds in his final game to average a triple-double for the season.
New Orleans capped Monday’s slate with a 113-100 rout of the Clippers behind a barrage of dunks and 28 points from Anthony Davis.
With two nights remaining in the regular season, there are plenty of seeding scenarios still in play across the league. In fact, the Pelicans can still move up to the number four seed if they beat the Spurs on Wednesday, and if Utah lose to Golden State on Tuesday and Portland a day later.
The Cavs coasted past the Knicks for a 123-109 win that also gave Cleveland the Central Division title.
It marks LeBron James’ 10th consecutive division title. He is the first player in NBA history to win 10 straight division championships.
The Pistons are ready for the season to be over. Stan Van Gundy’s public reprimand of the team’s effort did little to motivate on the second leg of a back-to-back.
Andre Drummond (Achilles) sat out and Stanley Johnson registered a minus-21 and was two for 10 shooting in a 108-98 loss to the Raptors.
First Henshaw now Carty great to see some Athlone lads starting to make a breakthrough
Best of luck to Jack Carthy, great to see Connacht fielding a young, all Irish back line.
Would love to see Jordi have a great game at 7 and get into 6 nations contention to fill the gap left by SOB. Will also be keeping a close eye on Henry and Tommy O’ D tonight
C’mon Connacht.
Exciting game ahead. Leinster will be scratching after last yrs result but Connacht will meet ye more than half way!!!!
FYI. You have only listed 14 starting players for Leinster. Devon Toner has become a one-man machine in the second row…
Scratch that, you have added Tom Denton.
I have. He just about caught the bus. Cheers.
Tom Denton catching something? What’s seldom is wonderful
Kirchner on the wing, hopefully he’ll spark some exciting back plays.
Murphy at 7 puts even more pressure on Henry and o’donnell
He’s only back from injury but I really liked the work rate and professionalism of o donnell last year! I think at the moment if have him and murphy ahead of Henry in the long run
I’d rather go to a funeral than watch a rugby match
In that case shouldn’t you read an obituary column instead of an article on rugby?
Paulie I’d say you depress everyone at a funeral
Give it to him Lizzy!
Right in his Walnuts!
Haha, if I thought he had some Robby I would but my guess is he’s all mouth and no trousers ;)
Nicely put Elizabeth, well said!
There something wrong in the system when the IRFU won’t give the appropriate funds to a team who funds an all irish backline but prefers to spend money on big name signings to boost another provinces profile. Then they are wondering why they are not unearthing players to fill the roles of the retiring legends of the last few years? Connacht could be a good conveyor belt for Ireland in areas that are been missed, just look at Athlone.
Both Munster and Leinster are producing massive amounts of Irish players and ulster have brought some through too. To say spending money on overseas players is a waste is just wrong.
Players like Isa and rocky done so much for Leinster
As did dougie and him Williams for Munster and all these young ulster backs
I assume you’re referring to the same Connacht who are the only province not restricted by the IRFU’s stringent new rules on overseas recruitment & who boast more overseas players in their squad than any other province? Change the record. We’ve all heard this tune before
Del. We have relatively few non-Irish players and more and more of our squad is IQ. In face more and more of our squad is Connacht academy.
The reason why Connacht is not bound by the overseas rule is because the IRFU implicitly want Connacht to be a development province. They are not explicit about it because it annoys everyone here but that is the reason. Hence Connacht IQ players can be moved to other provinces and they are told to shop abroad.
The first example of this was Macca. Granted Connacht did well to bring Clarke in, but it will not always work out that like.
Personally I would much prefer Connacht to be properly funded and have the same rules apply to us as the rest of the provinces.