Western Conference Playoff Report: March 28th

Hey look - something went the Suns way last night!  That's pretty exciting stuff.

One of the things I usually point to when trying not to get crazy about individual NBA games is the fact that there are so damn many of them (82 to be exact) .  You've got to mete out your crazy and focus only on "should win" or blown games.  This is in stark contrast to a sport like the NFL where your insanity is concentrated into just 16 weeks.

Well now that we're in the final 10 games of the Suns season that's all out the window.  Each one of the remaining games matters - a lot.  So be all crazy, get all panicky and jittery, and definitely wear that one shirt that the Suns always win when you're wearing it (you know the shirt).  Put on your red shoes and dance the blues.

Thursday March 27th Key Western Conference Results:

Portland Trail Blazers 100 Atlanta Hawks 85 (Recap) - The big news for Portland last night was the return of LaMarcus Aldridge after a 7 game absence.  With their All-Star big back in the fold the Blazers basically cruised to victory over a Hawks team that is seeing its grasp on the 8th seed in the East fall by the wayside.  Aldridge led the way for Portland with 25/16 game while the Hawks were Hawky.  The Hawks should consider themselves lucky that the Suns are playing the Knicks tonight and are still generous enough to try to help them out in their race to be a human sacrifice to the Pacers.

Los Angeles Clippers 109 Dallas Mavericks 103 (Recap) -  Yesterday my one sentence preview of this game said that the best thing that happened for the Suns was the Clips losing to the Pelicans and Chris Paul having a historically bad game - as per usual I was proven correct.  It definitely got a little hairy in the 4th quarter when the Mavericks opened up a 10 point lead but the Clippers rallied and hung a 3rd loss on Dallas this season.  Chris Paul captained the Clippers attack with 31 points and 9 assists while a Kia Spokesman and DeAndre Jordan were good first mates as they provided double-doubles.  Vince Carter shot 9/13 (4/5 from three) on his way to 23 points as he looked to continue our long standing one-way feud.

Current Western Conference Standings:

Friday March 28th Western Conference Games of Significance:

Knicks @ Suns - If you can figure out the New York Knicks then you've got a leg up on me.  They have won 9 of their last 11 games after having lost their previous 7.  The only impressive win in that 9 of 11 was a home win over the Pacers as they spent the rest of the time feasting on their sub-mediocre Eastern Conference cohorts.  Oh and they are just 3 days removed from losing to the Lakers by 24982 (OK it was 31 but you can't say it didn't feel like 24982).  Regardless of how weird the Knicks season is going they've still got one of the best scorers in the NBA in Carmelo Anthony and he can pop off at any time.  In personal news I agreed to attend this game with Bryan Gibberman - even with a free ticket I'm not sure what I was thinking.  Wish me luck.

Trail Blazers @ Bulls - After last night the Blazers are probably feeling pretty good about themselves - they got LaMarcus Aldridge back AND they didn't lose.  The Bulls however are the basketball version of your mother-in-law and thrive on making you feel worse about yourself.  Joakim Noah & Co. - please crush any good feelings the Blazers may have.

Grizzlies @ Warriors -  This is one of the many "no-lose" scenario games that exist on the schedule.  Considering how tight everything is and the fact that I think Memphis is just flat out better - I'd say maybe hope for a Golden State loss here?  Reasonable minds could disagree and I'd expect many of you will.