“You could see the look on everybody’s face change,” Jazz guard Randy Foye said. “Nobody said anything. It was just everybody had that look on their face, ‘You know what time it is. You know what we have to do.’ ”

While the Warriors had a chance to seal a playoff spot, Utah seized the opportunity for itself.

Mo Williams hit a huge 3-pointer in the final seconds to finish with 25 points, Al Jefferson added 19 points and 12 rebounds, and the Jazz regained the Western Conference’s final playoff position over the Lakers by holding off the Warriors 97-90 on Sunday night for a monumental road win.

“I can’t say enough about this group of guys,” Corbin said. “This was all about them and them wanting it, and the way they came out. Although we made some mistakes in the game, everybody laid everything they had in them out there on the floor.”

Williams’ 3-pointer with 13.4 seconds remaining put Utah ahead by six and spoiled Golden State’s shot to clinch a playoff berth in front of a 29th sellout crowd of 19,596. The Jazz moved a half-game ahead of the Lakers for the eighth seed. Utah also owns the tiebreaker after winning the season series 2-1 against the Lakers, who lost to the Clippers 109-95 earlier in the day.

“Four games left. We’ve got have them,” Jefferson said.

Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half and Klay Thompson had 20 points for the Warriors, who were trying to clinch a postseason spot for the first time since 2007 and just the second in 19 years.

Now that celebration will have to wait.

David Lee, who has never been to the playoffs in his eight NBA seasons, added 21 points and 13 rebounds for Golden State, which was outplayed inside by Utah’s front line of Jefferson, Derrick Favors (12 points, 13 rebounds) and Paul Millsap (11 points, six rebounds) most of the way.

“We still control our own situation, which is good, but you don’t want to have this feeling again,” Curry said. “We’ve got to get it done and there’s no excuse for us not to.”

The Jazz looked every bit like a team playing with everything at stake, just as Corbin had hoped before the game. They outhustled and outmuscled Golden State for most of 48 minutes, holding off one final flurry for a critical win in front of the an Oracle Arena crowd eager to celebrate.

After the Warriors went down 11 points late in the fourth quarter, Thompson and Curry each hit a 3-pointer to cut Utah’s lead to 91-86 with 3:28 to play. Reserve Draymond Green followed by tipping in Lee’s miss to bring the Warriors within three.

Jefferson hit a jumper that silenced fans standing all over the arena, then Lee answered with a layup to bring the crowd back to full throat. Golden State forced another stop, but wasted the offensive opportunity.

Green had his layup blocked by Favors, who keyed Utah’s defense all game, but got the ball back and tossed it out to Jarrett Jack — who missed a contested 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down. The Jazz isolated Williams at the top of the arc against Green, and he drained the shot that sent Utah home with a monumental win.

“I don’t know what’s going on with them, to be honest,” Williams said of Golden State’s playoff-starved crowd. “We’ve got enough going on with us.”

The Warriors are just a game ahead of Houston — which owns the tiebreaker after winning the season series 3-1 — for the West’s sixth seed. Golden State still needs any combination of two wins or losses by the conference’s ninth team to seal a playoff berth.

“They played like a team that their playoff lives depended on this game,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “We played, at times, like a team that had a cushion.”

Curry kept the Warriors close by scoring the first nine points during his team’s erratic start, which included four turnovers in the game’s first 4:12. He made his first three shots from the arc, the last giving Golden State a 38-29 lead midway through the second quarter.

The Jazz erased that deficit in fewer than four minutes behind a 17-4 run capped by Gordon Hayward’s 3-pointer. After going ahead by 10 points on consecutive deep 3s by Foye and Williams, Utah held on for a 56-48 halftime lead.

Golden State sliced Utah’s lead to a point in the third quarter before the Jazz took control again. Jefferson converted a layup over Jack to start a three-point play that highlighted a 10-1 spurt that put Utah up 75-65, a deficit the Warriors never could overcome.

“No way,” Favors said, “did I want to see them celebrate.”

Game notes

Utah won the season series 2-1. … Jazz reserve F Alec Burks sat out with a sprained right ankle, which occurred during Utah’s win over New Orleans on Friday night. He is day to day. … The Warriors signed G Scott Machado from Santa Cruz of the NBA Development League to a 10-day contract.

The post Mo Williams, Jazz keep Warriors from clinching playoff spot appeared first on IdealCapper.

Oklahoma City At Denver
When: 10:30 PM ET, Friday, March 1, 2013
Where: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Fox Sports Oklahoma, Altitude (Denver)
PREDICTION: Nuggets 115, Thunder 113.

Odds aren’t yet posted for this game, so check back later for the opening line and total.

Forward Kevin Durant posted his third triple-double of his career when he had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in Wednesday’s rout of the Hornets. Durant has two triple-doubles in four games, a startling development since he didn’t have a single triple-double over his first five NBA seasons. Only injured Boston point guard Rajon Rondo (five) has more triple-doubles this season. “When you get a triple-double, people think it’s just about the guy that gets it,” Durant said. “Your teammates make so many great plays to put you in position to do that. So, it’s not just me.” Durant averages 28.6 points.

Last time out for Oklahoma City, they were a 119-74 winner as they battled the Hornets at home. The Thunder covered in the match as a 15-point favorite, while 193 combined points moved the game UNDER for totals bettors.

Oklahoma City:
Team record: 42-15 SU, 33-21-3 ATS
Current streak: won 3 straight games.

is 9-3 SU in its last 12 games when playing Denver
is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of last 6 games when playing on the road against Denver

When playing on Friday are 5-5
Before playing LA Clippers are 6-4
After playing New Orleans are 10-0
After a win are 5-5

Point guard Ty Lawson continued the best scoring stretch of his career with 30 points in the victory over the Trail Blazers. Lawson has strung together eight consecutive 20-point outings and is averaging 26.1 points during the span. Lawson has scored 20 or more in 15 of the past 21 games since mid-January. He is averaging 16.6 points and 7.1 assists. Forward Danilo Gallinari averages a team-leading 16.9 points and is questionable after missing the previous two games with a thigh bruise. Wilson Chandler has started the two games Gallinari has missed, scoring 23 in Monday’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers but just seven against Portland.

In their last action, Denver was a 111-109 winner on the road against the Trail Blazers. They failed to cover the 2.5-point spread as favorites, while the combined score (220) was profitable news for OVER bettors.

Denver:
Team record: 37-22 SU, 34-25 ATS
Current streak: won 3 straight games.

is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 11 of last 12 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 7 of last 8 games
is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games

When playing on Friday are 8-2
Before playing Atlanta are 3-7
After playing Portland are 6-4
After a win are 8-2

The post Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Denver Nuggets Free Betting Pick & Matchup appeared first on IdealCapper.

The Nets squandered a 23-point lead and allowed Oklahoma City to tie it at 85 before ripping off a 23-8 run to seize control. Durant was ejected near the end of the surge, arguing with Danny Crawford after the referee already had issued a technical foul against Kendrick Perkins.

Durant scored 27 points and Russell Westbrook had 26 points and 10 assists for Oklahoma City, which lost for only the third time at home this season.

Durant, the three-time scoring champion, never had before been ejected in his six NBA seasons but got tossed after Brooklyn rallied largely from the foul line. The Nets made 11 free throws in a span of just more than 5 minutes, pulling away after Oklahoma City finally had fought all the way back.

Brook Lopez added 25 points as Brooklyn ended a seven-game losing streak in the series and got a win for interim coach P.J. Carlesimo against the team that fired him back in 2008.

The Thunder clamped down after trailing by 16 at halftime, rallying to pull within 71-68 when Westbrook finished off a 12-3 burst with a jumper from the left elbow with 3:47 left in the third quarter. Lopez powered his way in for a two-handed slam to stem the tide for Brooklyn, but Oklahoma City kept coming.

Durant and Kevin Martin connected on consecutive 3-pointers to finally even it up at 85 with 7:11 to play, only for Johnson to answer with a runner at the other end to put the Nets right back ahead and start the clinching run.

The Nets managed to get Carlesimo a rare win in Oklahoma City — something that proved difficult during his brief stretch on the Thunder sidelines.

Carlesimo was the coach when Oklahoma City got its franchise, leading the SuperSonics for their final season in Seattle and then going 1-12 in charge of the Thunder. He was fired and replaced — then on an interim basis — by Scott Brooks, who has overseen the team’s rise into a championship contender.

Back when Carlesimo was in charge, Durant was starting his second year in the NBA and Westbrook was a rookie who had yet to break into the starting lineup. Now, they’re both established All-Stars.

“For it to come together as quickly as it has, I think people believed that this was going to be a good team, with the nucleus they had and even starting out, the pieces,” Carlesimo said beforehand. “Russell, of course, was a huge addition the first year here and ever since then, there’s been good moves and they’ve tweaked it.”

Carlesimo also singled out the additions of Thabo Sefolosha and Perkins — both after he was fired — as key steps in the franchise’s rise.

“It’s a team I feel closer to than a lot of other teams. Hopefully, we helped KD and Nick (Collison) a little bit and Russell a tiny bit that first year, but I think it’s safe to say they’ve gone on and overcome whatever coaching they got from me,” Carlesimo said, drawing laughs.

At the start, it looked like Carlesimo’s new squad would run away with it against the Thunder, who started the day with the league’s best record.

Johnson and Lopez combined to go 9 for 9 from the field to propel the Nets to a quick 27-11 lead, and Brooklyn tried to keep the hammer down by re-inserting Williams after they had committed three turnovers in a span of five possessions without him to start the second quarter.

Upon returning, Williams immediately set up Keith Bogans for a 3-pointer, then used a behind-the-back, bounce pass for an assist on Kris Humphries’ jumper before nailing a 3-pointer of his own to push the lead out to 45-24. Brooklyn led by as much as 23 twice — including at 55-32 after Johnson drilled a 3-pointer off a touch pass from Gerald Wallace — before Westbrook and Serge Ibaka teamed up to score nine straight points to breathe some life into Oklahoma City.

Game notes
Carlesimo’s only win with the Thunder — after the SuperSonics had relocated from Seattle — came at home on Nov. 2, 2008, against Minnesota. … The Thunder’s largest previous deficit of the season was 16 in a loss at home against Memphis. … Oklahoma City got a delay of game warning for failing to get onto the court in time for tip-off, as part of the NBA’s emphasis on allowing teams 90 seconds between the end of introductions and the tip-off. … Nets reserve Jerry Stackhouse sat out with a sore right hamstring.

The post Kevin Durant ejected as streaking Thunder fall to Nets appeared first on IdealCapper.