Once upon a time, the Western Conference hierarchy seemed set in stone.
The Golden State Warriors were well on their way to wrapping up the No. 1 seed for the third season in a row. The San Antonio Spurs sans Tim Duncan would once again be the second string, thanks to Kawhi Leonard's MVP play. The Houston Rockets, meanwhile, were triples wild—the triumvirate of general manager Daryl Morey, head coach Mike D'Antoni and All-Star guard James Harden combining to pilot a three-point machine ticketed for the conference's No. 3 seed.
Then the Warriors dropped a 103-102 decision to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and now everything looks just a little bit murkier.
It all started on Feb. 28, when Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat shoved Warriors big man Zaza Pachulia into Kevin Durant's left knee in D.C. Nine days later, Leonard got popped in the head during the Spurs' blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and now finds himself in the NBA's concussion protocol. All the while, the Houston Rockets dropped squeakers in San Antonio and at home against the Utah Jazz before tumbling into a double-digit ditch in the Windy City opposite the Chicago Bulls.
With another frenzied NBA Friday in the books, the race for the West's top spot looks like anything but a foregone conclusion.
Before Durant went down, the Dubs had gone an NBA-record 146 games without losing consecutive contests. Since then, they've dropped back-to-back outings twice in less than two weeks to see their once-commanding grip on the No. 1 spot whittled down to 1.5 games.
Where the Boston Celtics pulled away from the Dubs down the stretch on Wednesday, Golden State found itself with a chance to win late in Minneapolis. The Warriors chipped away at a 17-point deficit before wiping away the bulk of it with a 13-0 spurt, including seven points from Klay Thompson's hot hand, early in the fourth quarter.
But Thompson lost his touch down the stretch of his 30-point performance—the first time in 24 such outings that the Warriors didn't win.
Stephen Curry couldn't find any fire in his fingers. He followed up a 2-of-9 shooting showing from three-point range against Boston by misfiring on seven of his eight long bombs and giving the ball to the Wolves six times.
Curry, though, still finished with 26 points and seven assists, just ahead of his season averages (24.9 PTS, 6.3 AST). Nobody else came close to compensating for the 25.3 points Durant usually chips in. Ian Clark (10 PTS) was the only other Warrior to finish in double digits.
Under normal circumstances, that rough patch would leave Golden State in a tough spot heading into Saturday's showdown with the Spurs. Leonard's absence appeared to give the Dubs some breathing room—that is, until head coach Steve Kerr decided to give his four most important remaining players the night off, per the San Jose Mercury News' Anthony Slater:
Gregg Popovich practically pioneered emptying his bench on national TV. He even got fined for it back when David Stern was the league's commissioner. Chances are, Pop will be chomping at the bit to follow Kerr's lead and rest LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol, among others.
All of which might look like a golden opportunity for the Rockets to rise up the West's totem pole. The way they bounded back from a 13-point deficit in Chicago seemed to suggest some licking of chops in Houston's locker room.
The Rockets blasted out a 45-10 run from the end of the second quarter through most of the third. During that span, James Harden dropped 13 of his 19 points, Clint Capela crammed through eight of his 17 and Ryan Anderson hit half of his six triples. That explosion was enough to bring out the boo birds at the United Center.
But Houston isn't in position to truly challenge for one of the conference's top two seeds. The Rockets now sit six games behind the second-place Spurs and 7.5 back of the Warriors.
Houston will need more retribution from the basketball gods than has already fallen on the heads of Golden State and San Antonio. But with the way the landscape has shifted of late, anything and everything seems possible in the wild, wild West.
Hawks Hang On at Home
If you thought the West was wild, good luck figuring out the East. Four teams sit within five games of the No. 1 seed, owned all season by the Cleveland Cavaliers. One of those squads, the Toronto Raptors, took a step back from the pack in Atlanta on Friday.
The Hawks rode 20-point performances from Dennis Schroder (26 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST), Paul Millsap (21 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (20 PTS, 6 AST) to a 105-99 win. Dwight Howard added his 38th double-double of 2016-17 (16 PTS, 10 REB).
The Raptors racked up 17 more field-goal attempts, thanks to 21 Atlanta turnovers and 16 offensive rebounds for Toronto. But most of those extra looks went wanting, with just four of the Raptors' 25 three-pointers tickling the twine. DeMar DeRozan (28 PTS, 8 REB, 6 AST), Serge Ibaka (18 PTS) and Cory Joseph (15 PTS, 8 AST, 4 STL) were the only Raptors to scratch from deep.
The Hawks, on the other hand, had five guys hit from long range. That balance now has Atlanta, through all its ups and downs, within two games of home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Closing that gap could be a bear for the Hawks, though. They'll play their next three games against the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies (twice).
Celtics Slip in the Rockies
If Friday's flop was any indication, the Boston Celtics' big win in the Bay Area on Wednesday might've been a blip amid otherwise troubling radar readings.
The C's were in a 10-point hole by the end of the first quarter in a 119-99 annihilation by the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. The home team became the latest to manhandle Boston's tiny frontline.
The Nuggets outscored the Celtics inside (58-28), outrebounded them (49-33) and outshot them overall (52.9 percent to 42.5 percent). Each of Denver's starting frontcourt players scored 20 or more: 23 points for Wilson Chandler, 20 for Danilo Gallinari and 21 with 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals for Nikola Jokic.
The C's, meanwhile, wrung 26 points combined out of Al Horford, Jae Crowder and Amir Johnson. Isaiah Thomas, usually a late-game killer, scored just two of his 21 points in the fourth quarter.
The good news for Boston? The team is just 2.5 games behind Cleveland. And that five-game West Coast road trip is now over, with home games against Chicago and Minnesota upcoming.
Bucks Back in the Hunt
If you buried the Milwaukee Bucks when Jabari Parker tore his ACL in early February, you might want to grab your shovel.
The Bucks, for their part, have already climbed out of their hole in the standings. By toppling the Indiana Pacers at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Friday, 99-85, Milwaukee officially re-entered the East’s top eight by way of a five-game winning streak.
Khris Middleton, whose first game this season was Parker’s last, scored 21 points. So did Giannis Antetokounmpo, to go with eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Greg Monroe needed just seven field-goal attempts to add 18 points off the bench.
Together, the Bucks’ thicket of long limbs limited Indiana’s Paul George to 18 points on 5-of-14 shooting and second-year stud Myles Turner to a mere six points on 3-of-9 from the floor.
"Just to understand it takes a team, and that what's what we're doing," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "Giannis is playing a high level, Khris is playing at a high level, but there are a lot of other guys playing at a high level with them."
Milwaukee will need that whole cast to keep producing if the team hopes to outlast the Bulls, Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets for one of the East’s final postseason berths. But securing the season tiebreaker over the Pacers should give the Bucks another finger on the ledge with which to hang on for a return to the playoffs.
Nets Get Another Glimpse of Yogi
The Brooklyn Nets can only wonder what’s gotten into Yogi Ferrell.
Back in November and December, the rookie out of Indiana averaged 5.4 points on 36.7 percent shooting (29.6 percent from three) in 10 games with the Nets while hopping between Brooklyn and the D-League affiliate in Long Island. Nearly two months later, he resurfaced as a surprising sensation with the Dallas Mavericks.
Brooklyn got its first look at what Ferrell’s become during a 105-96 loss in Dallas. Ferrell finished with 17 points—more than he ever scored in a single game as a Net, but just tied for his fourth-most as a Mav.
While Brooklyn has all but run away with the league’s worst record, Dallas is on the comeback trail in the West, thanks in part to Ferrell’s efforts. Just two teams and 1.5 games stand between the Mavericks and a playoff spot, only two months removed from an 11-27 start to the 2016-17 season.
Beal Bails Out Wiz
The Sacramento Kings were well on their way to winning just their second game since trading DeMarcus Cousins. They came into the fourth quarter up 15 points, with Buddy Hield having already poured in his 18 on 4-of-8 from three.
But Bradley Beal had other ideas. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime, then dropped five more in the extra period to finish with 38 (and 10 rebounds and four assists) in a 118-112 Washington Wizards win. John Wall logged his 42nd double-double (25 PTS and 12 AST), with three other double-digit scorers—18 from Otto Porter, 17 from Bojan Bogdanovic and 10 from Markieff Morris.
Willie Cauley-Stein came up big with a slew of finishes around the rim during a back-and-forth final stretch of the fourth quarter. He'd pick up 11 of his 20 points and four of his career-high-tying 13 rebounds before finishing without a score or board in overtime.
The Kings, now at 25-40, are all but certain to tap out of the West's playoff race, which was the expectation after Boogie got the boot. The Wizards, meanwhile, are in a virtual tie with the Celtics for second place in the East, just 2.5 games behind the Cavs.
Dunk of the Night: Marvin Bismacks Biyombo
Feeling tl;dr about the Charlotte Hornets' 121-81 wipeout of the Orlando Magic? Lucky for you, Marvin Williams summed up the whole experience with one first-half slam at Bismack Biyombo's expense.
Williams finished with 12 points, a personal-best 18 rebounds and a career-high-tying seven assists. He was one of seven Hornets to finish in double figures and push the team toward a season-high 59.5 percent shooting from the field.
Friday's Final Scores
Charlotte Hornets 121, Orlando Magic 81
Houston Rockets 115, Chicago Bulls 94
Minnesota Timberwolves 103, Golden State Warriors 102
Atlanta Hawks 105, Toronto Raptors 99
Denver Nuggets 119, Boston Celtics 99
Milwaukee Bucks 99, Indiana Pacers 85
Dallas Mavericks 105, Brooklyn Nets 96
Washington Wizards 130, Sacramento Kings 122
All stats and salary information via NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and listen to his Hollywood Hoops podcast with B/R Lakers lead writer Eric Pincus.