The Cavaliers march on
Eastern Conference
Last week the Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team in the league to claim a spot in the play-offs. They closed the week with a 51-15 record and a two-game winning streak.
The Orlando Magic closed the week as the team with the best record as a result of the 109-95 win over the Washington Wizards on Saturday. The Milwaukee Bucks have continued their impressive showing, improving their winning tally at the end of last week to six games.
The held the Utah Jazz to a mere 87 points in their 95-87 win last Friday. The Charlotte Bobcats recorded impressive wins to power their winning streak to five, while 112-99 win over the Detroit Pistons helped the Atlanta Hawks to close the week with back to back wins.
While the Cavs booked their place to the next round the New Jersey Nets officially found out that they had no chance whatsoever to make it to the play-offs. Since defeating the New York Knicks the two weeks ago the Nets lost their four games last week, again failing to win back to back games for the season.
The Washington Wizards performance-wise threaded a more dismal path towards the end of the week as their losing streak was extended to seven games.
Play-off hopefuls Toronto Raptors are in a spot of bother as a result of the four-game losing streak the suffered towards the end of the week. To their benefit, their nearest rivals the Chicago Bulls are suffering a seven-game losing streak so they too have a lot of work to do if they are to secure a place in the post-season.
Mavs fall hard
Western Conference
So close, but yet so far? Unfortunately, this was not the case for the Dallas Mavericks as they suffered a hard defeat ending their winning streak at 13. In a prime case of poetic justice, the Knicks defeated the Mavericks 128-94 on their home court, avenging the 50-point loss they suffered in January. That was not the only surprise to end the week as the Jazz lost to the Bucks.
The Denver Nuggets improved their winning streak to six at the end of the week thanks to a 125-108 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. JR Smith led the Nuggets with 30 points, inclusive of seven three-pointers.
The Oklahoma City Thunder progressed to 40-24 for the season as a result of the four-game winning streak they closed the week with. Defending champions the Los Angeles Lakers recovered from their three-game losing streak with two straight wins. The most recent was a hard-fought 102-96 win over the Phoenix Suns.
The Houston Rockets are trying to stage a late push for the play-offs and their back to back wins to close the week has given them a huge boost. In eight place in the West, however, is the Portland Trailblazers who closed the week boasting a three-game winning streak. The San Antonio Spurs closed the week with a similar streak, easing past the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-85.
Similar to the nets, there are teams in the west who have no chance of making it to the play-offs this season. Those teams are the Golden State Warriors, the Sacramento Kings and the Timberwolves.