Scoreboard
Cavaliers 118, Magic 94
Heat 129, 76ers 101
Spurs 129, Trail Blazers 127
Thunder 114, Jazz 98
Suns 119, Nuggets 115
What went down
Oklahoma City was the team with the most still left on the line heading into today. They played like it, drubbing an undermanned Utah Jazz team in Salt Lake.
Shai with the behind-the-back DIME to Giddey 🥽
— NBA (@NBA) April 7, 2023
Thunder seek crucial win on the NBA App. pic.twitter.com/lODuU7xqpX
The win kept OKC in the driver’s seat for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. They currently own a 39-42 record with the Dallas Mavericks trailing them at 38-42. OKC owns the tiebreaker over Dallas so all they have to do is win their final game of the season on Monday against the Memphis Grizzlies to guarantee their spot in the play-in. Dallas has to win their next two games and hope for an OKC loss to jump into that 10th seed.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey came up with near-triple-double performances to boost OKC to the win. The Canadian had 22 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists while the Australian contributed 17 points, eight boards, and eight dimes. Dallas may have the star power but OKC has the youth, chemistry, and defense.
Out East, the Miami Heat clinched the Southeast Division title with a wire-to-wire win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Even with the win, Miami is still in the play-in portion of the postseason. The Heat (43-37) have two games left on the schedule—against the Washington Wizards and Orlando Magic—and trail the Brooklyn Nets (44-36) for the sixth seed. The Nets’ final two games are against the Magic and the Sixers.
Big-time baller
The Suns, unlike other top teams in the West, have plenty of reason to keep trotting out their lineup in the final week of the season. They need to get as many reps with Kevin Durant in the lineup and today, KD showed out against the Denver Nuggets.
KD from deep 🎯 pic.twitter.com/05Ctj8X3ha
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) April 7, 2023
Durant scored 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter to escape the Nuggets, who were resting their stars after having already clinched the top seed in the West. He also had seven boards and four assists in helping the Suns bag their seventh straight win.
What he said
Former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy was doing commentary for the TNT broadcast of the Miami-Philly game. That set up this sharp observation of Erik Spoelstra’s looks.
TNT commenting on Spo’s youthful looks at 52 … :@realStanVG — “He honestly looks the same as he did when I started working with him in 1995 and it’s disgusting to be quite honest.”
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) April 7, 2023
Did you see that?
Jazz All-Star Lauri Markkanen intends to fulfill his mandatory service in the Finnish military this offseason, he told @ramonashelburne.
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 6, 2023
More info 🔗: https://t.co/0mIOqW97qk pic.twitter.com/ehBJ7PMJzC
Lauri Markkanen is going to fulfill his mandatory military service this offseason in Finland. This doesn’t automatically mean Markkanen is going to miss games next season - he’s just going to have a more tiring offseason training in Helsinki.
Markkanen is reportedly going to be trained in a unit that specializes in urban wartime conditions with other Finnish athletes. Finland has become more strict with their mandatory military service since being accepted into NATO in April this year.
