It's a tough  road for all of them,  especially for Lakers and Warriors  as we all know how tough the competition from the west side, all those teams on top are really trying to reached the finals,  it's going to be a big test for both Lakers and Warriors as they are still in the play in situation  only one can go and proceed for the next round not unless there's a big changes that may happened a big losing run for those on the top 8 teams and a winning run either from Lakers or warriors that might change the positioning.

On the east  side, heat already  done that before,  even  they are having an issue  on the regular season  but if by chance they manage to make it to the playoffs they always have that capability to upset the top rank.

I'm sure these two teams (Lakers and Warriors) will make play in tournament and only one of them will make playoffs. Hopefully its Lakers since i still really want to watch Lebron playing Playoffs. NBA fans saying that it possible Lakers and OKC will battle 1st round playoffs and they predicting that OKC will first round exit. I want to but look Lakers really struggling to make playoffs this year 😭

Very close game between the Denver and Wolves, ANT had another of his fantastic game but he missed a game trying three points that will force the game into OT. Jokic takes advantage as Gobert is not in uniform and so he started very active and probably his lowest assists for this season at 2.

But him and Porter made clutch basket in the last 5 minutes. And although the Wolves try to make a comeback with back to back threes to close the gap, their FT is enough to get a good separation and ANT didn't convert.

Jokic really played it very well, no Gobert in the middle and so every opportunity they can get to have a switch and let a smaller Wolves guard him, it's automatic 2 points for him in the paint.

ANT just need to be clutch though, very emotional but he needs to cool down in the stretch. If he could only nail that 3, and force OT, the result might be different as it looks like they have the momentum already in that game. They just run out of time chasing the Nuggets in the last minute.

Michael Porter Jr. is back to his old self in his recent games. The confidence is there unlike after the back injury was healed, I guess it's all mental for him and he somehow got over it.
This is the only game that I saw Jokic not passing too much, he only made 2 assists and I believe Coach Malone wrote that plan because the Timberwolves have no big man that will protect the rim. They need to take advantage of it while Gobert and KAT are not playing.

Still, Antman did a great job here, and just like the commentator said, Coach Chris Finch should still be happy for the competitive spirit that was shown by his team. They are playing back-to-back games for crying out loud and they are still giving the reigning champions a difficult time. Then, they are undermanned.
McDaniels stepped up his game way high in this game. The last time I saw him play like that was against the Kings but I did expect him to play well, not just this much, which is why I added him to my props.

That's for sure, I have no doubt about that. Lebron alone could not carry this team,  but with AD, they'll be a good playoff contender and I put a little chance for them getting into the Finals again. AD's experience in the playoffs and since he already won a championship with the Lakers, it's easy to tell that without him it's really a big problem for the struggling LA Clippers.

Let us not forget that Lebron is not getting any younger, although he can still get 20+ points easily but the impact on the team compared to when he was still young and very dominant is just not that big anymore. So to conclude, without AD, Lakers are done.

There's nothing they can do here, not at the very short period of time going to the play-in tournament which I think is their best chances based on the current standing. They can make a strategy but the current roster of the Lakers are not good enough to compete against a championship team or a proven playoffs teams. I don't want to underestimate them, but we can do the simple math here, this Lakers signed AD and won a championship, now AD is injured, that could easily mean championship hopes are gone too.

I would say that the Warriors are struggling to get into the play-in tournament as the Rockets, to my surprise, continue to win and are catching up to the Warriors in the standings. The Lakers are doing a little better in this regard, and I think they can compete for the 8th spot in the standings.

The odds payout offered by the bookmakers on Philadelphia 76ers to win the away match against Phoenix Suns is @4.30, I am kind of surprised to see the odds payout for Philadelphia 76ers to be so high as both of these teams are almost quite close to each other performance with their overall win loss rate results this season. Phoenix Suns have lost 3 out of their 4 recent home matches played and I think Philadelphia 76ers might have a slight chance to beat Phoenix Suns away from home.

One thing I do wonder is the Rockets, looks like they are on a great winning streak and getting closer and closer to Warriors, just 2 win difference, and I think that can be closed with how many players Warriors are missing. Could it happen? I do not know, they played some easy games, and the end stretch of their games looks like against weaker teams. If they can do that, it would be the first playoffs since a while, since the whole Harden era, and these are still very young players, so that would be awesome for them to get that experience.

Plus, Alperen may come back by that time, and if they do that then they could actually play well. Not saying that they will get the position, of course they may not, but at least it looks like we are going to see them end up having a chance, should be very good to see.