Denver wins tiebreaker

Filed under:. Tonight is a very important night for determining West playoff matchups New, comments. Share this story Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share All sharing options Share All sharing options for: Tonight is a very important night for determining West playoff matchups. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Heading into Friday, the Jazz have a one-game lead on the Suns; however, the Suns hold the tiebreaker, meaning that if the Jazz slip up just once, they might find themselves with the second seed.

That could be a tangible difference if, as it appears might be possible, that the Los Angeles Lakers might fall into the play-in tournament. Conversely, the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers continue to flip flop in the standings depending on the day at the third and fourth seeds. The Nuggets own the tiebreaker there, but with the Clippers having one more win, the Nuggets slide down to the fourth seed and would face the Dallas Mavericks at fifth.

Sitting along the baseline, Murray was active and engaged throughout the testy matchup. His magical second half could easily be featured in his MVP campaign. But he looked like he had a burst on the perimeter. When the Clippers threw a double-team in his direction with barely over a minute left, Jokic flipped the court and found Facundo Campazzo in the corner for a back-breaking 3-pointer to give the Nuggets a late nine-point lead.

Porter added 25 points along with four 3-pointers. If Denver loses that game, they can likely kiss their Top-2 hopes goodbye. Portland has a tough schedule remaining, but if they can go into Atlanta and win this one, they can at least check one win off. If the Nuggets win this one, they push the Lakers into the seventh seed outright, offering up a chance for other teams to defeat them in a double elimination capacity. They might not struggle with that first game, but matching up with Trae Young and Clint Capela in Atlanta on short rest might be a difficult task.

Could Denver pick up a game in the standings here? Both teams will want to win this matchup, and the Lakers may feel like they have to. So pay no attention to those current standings. They are likely to change even if both teams keep winning. Here are the current standings among potential playoff teams in the AFC, listing division and conference record to date:. And here are the remaining schedules for each potential contender CAPS equals home game, red for division games, orange for conference, blue non-conference; darker colors for teams in playoff position or within 2 games of playoff spot :.

New England and Oakland are in a virtual tie atop the AFC at the moment, and will be tied on conference record if both win this week.