Thunder, Spurs Lose Ground

The Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs lost ground in the Western Conference standings when both of them lost their games last night to the Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns, respectively. The Thunder fell to eighth place from seventh, and the Spurs fell from sixth to seventh. The Portland Trail Blazers, who started the day in eighth place, is now in sixth place. All three teams have identical records at 48-30, but the Trail Blazers own the tiebreaker against the Spurs via head-to-head matchups and the Spurs own the tiebreaker against the Thunder via head-to-head matchups.

The Thunder suffered their second straight defeat, and they blew a 13-point-lead in the fourth quarter. F Kevin Durant scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, both team-highs, but he missed his final six shots as the Thunder went the final nine minutes without a made field goal, missing their final 13 shots. The Spurs were toe-to-toe with the Suns until the final two minutes of the first half. The Suns went on an 11-2 run to take a nine-point-lead into the half, and never looked back.

Both the Thunder and the Spurs have a tough schedule coming up, with three of their last four games against Western Conference teams with winning records. The Trail Blazers schedule is just as hard, with three out of their remaining four games against teams with winning records as well. All three teams are trying to avoid the eighth seed, where that team will most likely have to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. The Lakers can clinch their #1 seed if they beat the Nuggets tonight.

It was reported before the Spurs/Suns game that G Manu Ginobili of the Spurs was close to reaching a three-year extension with the Spurs. He was set to become a free agent at the end of this season. He has been playing extremely well as of late, but didn't have a good game last night after starting off hot. The playoffs start Saturday April 17, and there are still positioning that needs to be done.