Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Summer Night Off the Greenland Coast Circa Year 1000; Carl Rasmussen; 1875

The latest twist in the wild West playoff race is that injuries are starting to play a bigger role. Nikola Jokic just missed an entire week of play (Denver went 2-2 on a tough road trip), Stephen Curry is out (0-1 without him so far), LeBron James just came back (the Lakers went 3-3 without him), Ja Morant’s been out nine days (Memphis is 1-3 since then), Domantas Sabonis missed more time (the Kings 1-2 in the latest absence) and the Mavericks are … well, completely shredded.

It’s boring and annoying to say that injuries play a massive role in how NBA seasons resolve. But injuries play a massive role in how NBA seasons resolve.

The good news is that most of these maladies appear to be more short-term varieties, excluding the Dallas situation. Absences could impact seeding for the Nuggets, Warriors, Lakers and Grizzlies, and could impact whether the Kings survive their bid to make the play-in again. New injuries are certainly possible between now and the end of the season three weeks from now. What you hope is that they don’t linger into the first round, denying teams clarity on where they truly stand.

Speaking of where teams stand, here’s the latest on the key postseason races.

• EAST 4-5-6: The Pacers are a game up on the Bucks for East No. 4 and the Bucks are a game up on the Pistons for East No. 5. Indiana has the Wolves, Lakers, Wizards and Thunder this week. Milwaukee finishes its road trip at the Suns and Nuggets and comes home for the Knicks and Hawks. Detroit has the Spurs, Cavaliers and Wolves.

• WEST 2-3-4-5-6-7-8: Sheesh. This race has deepened. It has morphed. It has melded with the 6-7-8 race. The Rockets are on top with 26 losses, the Nuggets and Lakers have 27 each, the Grizzlies have 28. The Warriors are at 30, and the Wolves and Clippers are at 31 each. IT’S A MESS. We have Lakers-Grizzlies on Saturday (L.A. can clinch the tiebreaker), Otherwise these teams are playing the East a bunch this week.

• WEST 9-10-11-12: Uh, the Kings and Suns both beat the Cavaliers last week and are both in a dogfight with the hospital wing Mavericks, the Blazers (!) and the Spurs (!!) for a play-in spot. Sacramento is at 35 losses, Phoenix and Dallas are at 37, San Antonio is at 39 and Portland is at 40. Anyone who doesn’t think that the Mavs, Spurs or Blazers can edge the Kings or Suns for a play-in spot has not watched the Kings or Suns enough or looked at their brutal upcoming schedules. Portland can clinch the tiebreak over Sacramento on Thursday (huge Kings-Blazers game … for the first time in NBA history?!). All of the teams actually do have a tough week ahead. We’re probably getting at least one West play-in team with a losing record.

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Scores

Friday

Magic 120, Wizards 105 — Paolo Banchero is averaging 30 points on 60% True Shooting since All-Star. Unfortunately, Orlando is only 6-9 in that span.

Sixers 120, Spurs 128

Hornets 106, Thunder 141

Pelicans 93, Timberwolves 134 — Really freaking cool effort from Chris Finch and the Timberwolves to help Joe Ingles’ son Jacob experience watching his dad play in person.

Rockets 102, Heat 98 — Sometimes, the opponent is playing a little desperate and you need Fred VanVleet to go nuts. And sometimes he provides.

Meanwhile, thanks to the YouTube algorithm for surfacing this funny video reminding me about the brawl between Amen Thompson and Tyler Herro the last time these teams met.

Pistons 117, Mavericks 123 — Say this for the Mavericks: despite their fans being at war with their front office, and despite missing their top two players to injury, the team is competing. It’s usually not enough. But sometimes it is. And Marc Stein reports that Anthony Davis may be approaching a return. The 10-seed is not guaranteed yet!

Celtics 121, Jazz 99

Nuggets 109, Blazers 128 — Jamal Murray came back, but Nikola Jokic sat again. Full late-game domination led by Deni Avdija.

Cavaliers 112, Suns 123 — Holy losing streak, Cleveland! Donovan Mitchell had a nightmare game (2/18 from the floor) and Kevin Durant, uh, did not.

Grizzlies 108, Clippers 128 — No Ja Morant, but this is a pretty convincing win for Los Angeles. They are putting together some convincing wins.

Saturday

Nets 103, Pacers 108 — Little more exciting in the NBA than Tyrese Haliburton and Obi Toppin in transition.

Warriors 115, Hawks 124 — Pretty thorough domination by Atlanta’s offense, which ranks No. 20 in the NBA. The Hawks shot 68% inside the arc and had 30 makes in the lane.

Wizards 103, Knicks 122

Bucks 114, Kings 108 — Sacramento led like the first 90% of the game. Ah well. Giannis is amazing.

Bulls 146, Lakers 115 — Here come the Bulls! Look at this line from Josh Giddey: 15 points, 10 rebounds, 17 assists, 8 steals and 2 turnovers.

The Lakers had 21 turnovers, 12 of those from Luka and LeBron (who is back).

Matas Buzelis with 31. Coby White with 36. Are the Bulls … a little exciting?

Sunday

Pelicans 130, Pistons 136 — C.J. McCollum and the Pels gave Detroit hell with Cade Cunningham out of action. The Pistons still winning is pretty impressive.

Cavaliers 120, Jazz 91 — Whew.

Celtics 129, Blazers 116 — A casual 30-9-9 for Jayson Tatum. Basically a perfect team.

Spurs 123, Raptors 89

Hornets 105, Heat 122 — Miami’s losing streak finally ends. It only took a season-high performance from Andrew Wiggins.

Sixers 119, Hawks 132 — One game away from .500! It is destiny.

Nuggets 116, Rockets 111 — Still no Nikola Jokic for Denver, so DeAndre Jordan decided to turn back several clocks.

“I am flabbergasted.” None are likely more flabbergasted than DAJ’s quads.

Jamal Murray was the best player on the court against hot hot Houston, and it’s hard to imagine the Nuggets losing often when that’s the case.

Thunder 103, Clippers 101 — Neither Jalen Williams or Chet Holmgren played, but there was a whole bunch to learn from here, especially L.A.’s defense on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (7/29 from the floor, pressing by the end) and OKC’s torture hands on the other end. L.A.’s offensive crispness left something to be desired in the endgame.

The Clippers can absolutely win a round or two in the playoffs … as long as they don’t end up No. 8 across from OKC.

Schedule

All times Eastern. Important games get asterisks.

Timberwolves at Pacers, 7**
Lakers at Magic, 7, NBA TV
Raptors at Wizards, 7
Mavericks at Nets, 7:30 — big tank game
Sixers at Pelicans, 8 — big tank game; I refuse to give these asterisks
Bulls at Nuggets, 9
Bucks at Suns, 10, NBA TV*
Celtics at Kings, 10

Be excellent to each other.