The 2007-2008 regular season has 15 days remaining. Most teams have between 7 and 9 games yet to be played. The Eastern Conference appears like it’s pretty much locked up, with maybe only the ridiculously pathetic eighth seed still in jeopardy.

The Western Conference is however an entirely different story. For the remainder of the season I will be posting updates of how the West is looking, with seldom remarks about the East, when necessary.

Tonight was another exciting evening and plenty of movement took place in the crazily packed West. I was watching a few of the games on my NBA League Pass while I was finishing up some studying and saw a few great games. Unfortunately, as a Lakers fan, not all the games went as I had wished, but the night turned out solid overall.

The evening started with New Orleans Hornets continuing their dominance and barely escaping with a win in Orlando. They were down by 14 at one point and came back to win by 2 off of a Peja Stojakovic three pointer. Chris Paul had a chance to make it a two possession game but he missed both free throws. The New Orleans Hornets showed why they have been so strong this season by playing the last ten seconds to perfection on the defensive end not allowing the Orlando Magic to get a decent shot off. The Hornets are now 1 1/2 games ahead of the Lakers and are tied with the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs had a great evening of their own. Tim Duncan led the San Antonio Spurs to a victory over the Golden State Warriors tonight, which proved to be vital in more than one way. The Spurs not only tied for the #1 spot in the conference, but they pushed the Warriors out of the playoff picture. The Golden State Warriors are now 1/2 game behind the Denver Nuggets for the final playoff spot. Although these two teams have the two worst records, of the nine competing for playoff spots, they may still both get in if Dirk Nowitzki can’t lead the Dallas Mavericks to a few victories in the next few games.

The Mavs are only one game ahead of Denver in the 7th spot but with their tough schedule coming up, they are in danger of being pushed out of the way. As the Golden State Warriors were in the middle of their dogfight with the San Antonio Spurs, the Denver Nuggets were battling on their home court against the Phoenix Suns. Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson had great games and proved that last nights lead was not a fluke. They defeated the Suns and caused even more movement throughout the conference. The Phoenix Suns fell a half game behind the Lakers, and the race for 1st place now seems down to only three teams, the Hornets, Spurs, and Lakers.

The last game of the night was between the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings. Just as expected, for a night full of interesting results, the Rockets were upset as they missed a buzzer beater to win the game. They were defeated in Arco Arena 98-97 and dropped to match Phoenix’s record with 25 losses.

Overall, it was another exciting evening in the NBA and I can’t wait to see how the remainder of the regular season turns out.

What to watch for tomorrow:

1. New Orleans faces Miami (should be an easy win, but lets pray that Miami manages to win to make things more interesting.
2. Minnesota visits Utah (Utah should win this quite easily but who knows, Minnesota plays well when they feel like it)
3. Dallas takes on the Warriors (Both teams are struggling and this is Golden States chance to steal the 8th spot and kick the Mavericks out of the playoffs)
4. Lakers host Portland (Pau Gasol is expected to return so hopefully the Lakers can have an easy win and start their streak to end the season)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 am and is filed under NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.