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In just its second game since 2019, the Jordan Brand Classic showed it still has a coolness factor and can further boost the powerful brand that is Nike.
Thursday was a calm-before-the-storm type night before things start getting crazy on Friday, with 15 games on the schedule yes, all thirty teams are playing! and lots of clinching scenarios.Of those 15, there are five with no playoff seeding implications, and another four that should be relative cakewalks (Lakers vs. Grizzlies, Heat vs. Raptors, Knicks vs. Nets and Wolves vs. Hawks).One other game Denver at San Antonio is huge only if the Nuggets lose, opening the door for Oklahoma City or Minnesota to take the West’s top seed.That leaves five games on the schedule that truly matter, and we’ll walk through the implications of them in a minute.First, from Thursday: The big result was New Orleans winning in Sacramento, guaranteeing no worse than the No. 7 seed for the Pelicans and making their magic number for the sixth seed just two wins and/or Phoenix losses. The Kings, Warriors and Lakers are now deadlocked beneath those two at 45-35 for eighth, ninth and tenth, with the K
At least 13 of tonight's 14 NBA games have some playoff implications, plus there's a Spurs-Grizzlies game that might be really, really interesting to Charlotte fans. But the one to watch is Lakers vs. Warriors (10 p.m. ET), which likely is just to determine who will have home court if the two teams meet again in next week's Play-In Tournament. A Laker win would seal the Warriors into 10th; a Warriors win means Golden State can land ninth if it wins out.In addition, the Lakers have some real move-up possibilities if they win. If the Lakers win their final three game and the Pelicans lose at least once before Sunday, the Lakers will nab the eighth position. LA could even move up to seventh if that happens and either the Suns or Kings lose twice as well, but that is a bit more unlikely with these three teams playing each other in the final week of the season.