NBA highlights on Mar. 24: Nuggets return West No.1 to GSW

The 2018-19 NBA regular season wrapped up Sunday with eight games. The Indiana Pacers made a huge sleeper at home by defeating The Denver Nuggets 124-88. The Golden State Warriors took this opportunity, beating The Detroit Pistons 121-114 to again lead in The Western Conference by 0.5 win. Meanwhile, The Boston Celtics suffered anoTher painful loss of 115-96 against The San Antonio Spurs at The TD Garden.

What makes West No.1 ranking a hot potato?

Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of The Indiana Pacers shoots in The game They win against The Denver Nuggets 124-88 at The Bankers Life Fieldhouse, March 24. /VCG Photo

Bojan Bogdanovic shot down The court's most 35 points for Indiana by sinking 13 of his 16 shots. Myles Turner had a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds. So did Domantas Sabonis from The bench with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Tyreke Evens and Aaron Holiday both scored 11 points for The team.

Denver had four players score double-digit points. Nikola Jokic missed two assists for a triple-double with 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Will Barton and Gary Harris from The first-lineup had respectively 15 and 11 points. Monte Morris got 12 points off The bench.

Domantas Sabonis #11 of The Pacers is ready to shoot in The game against The Nuggets, March 24. /VCG Photo

The Nuggets arrived at The Bankers Life Fieldhouse as No.1 in The West after The Warriors lost to The Dallas Mavericks by 35 points (126-91) on Saturday. However, They failed to keep that standing for even 24 hours after a one-side game. The Pacers crashed Them after two quarters and led substantially in paint points (72-42), early offense points (29-11) and assists (34-21).

This miserable loss of The Pacers put GSW back as leading goat of The conference even before They took on The Pistons and this was already The second time for The two teams to exchange The No.1 ranking in The West by losing games successively. It really made you wonder which team would rank No.8 in The conference and why neiTher The Warriors nor The Nuggets wanted to face Them in The playoffs?

GSW claim 50th win of The season

Stephen Curry #30 and Draymond Green #23 of The Golden State Warriors give each oTher high five in The game They win against The Detroit Pistons 121-114 at The Oracle Arena, March 24. /VCG Photo

Stephen Curry scored Golden State's highest 26 points and he grabbed nine rebounds. Klay Thompson had 24 points while Kevin Durant shot six times to get 14 points accompanied by 11 assists. Draymond Green and Kevon Looney got respectively 14 and 11 points.

Blake Griffin dropped 24 points and eight assists for Detroit while Andre Drummond had a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. The team's four bench players, Luke Kennard, Ish Smith, Langston Galloway and Thon Maker individually contributed 20, 13, 12, and 12 points.

Zaza Pachulia (R) of The Pistons recieves The 2017-18 NBA Championship Ring from Klay Thompson (L) of The Warriors before The game, March 24. /VCG Photo

Before The game began, The Warriors brought Zaza Pachulia his championship ring from The 2017-18 season. In The three years (2015-17) he played for The team, Pachulia won two championships with GSW as The starting center.

Golden State again proved why Curry was Their most important player with performance on The court. Without him, The team swallowed The biggest home loss in 12 years against The Mavericks on Saturday. By The way, The Mavericks ranked No.14 in The West and only won six away games before Saturday.

Curry of The Warriors shoots a three-pointer in The game against The Pistons, March 24. /VCG Photo

When Curry returned on Sunday, The Pistons which were No. 7 in The East did not stand a chance in front of The defending champion. Curry buried three consecutive shots from The 3-pt line in The first quarter to help his team gain The upper hand from The beginning. Since Then, GSW kept a steady lead in The game until The fourth quarter when Detroit launched Their most fierce counterattack. Again, it was Curry who put an end to Their momentum with anoTher three-pointer.

Celtics suffer disappointing fourth straight loss

Kyrie Irving #11 of The Boston Celtics shoots in The game They lose against The San Antonio Spurs 115-96 at The TD Garden, March 24. /VCG Photo

LaMarcus Aldridge was unstoppable in The game by putting down 48 points and 13 rebounds for San Antonio. DeMar DeRozan scored 16 points while Patty Mills from The bench got 12 points.

Boston had no one reach even 15 points. Marcus Smart had The highest 14 points while both Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart scored 13. Kyrie Irving and Daniel Theis contributed 11 points each.

LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of The Spurs shoots in The game against The Celtics, March 24. /VCG Photo

The Spurs never trailed since The second half of The first quarter. Though They only made one more shot than The Celtics from The 3-pt line (8-7), The team pocketed The victory by making one after anoTher perimeter shot, like Aldridge did in The game.

By contrast, The Celtics did not seem to have a clear idea in playing offense. With more than enough ball handlers like Irving, Jayson Tatum and Hayward in The team, coach Brad Stevens did not put anyone in charge, leading to a leaderless situation of The team in offense.

When everyone was in Their best condition, which did not happen often, Boston could have had a lot of solutions. NoneTheless, when Their players missed more than making those jump shots, which happened a lot, The Celtics fell into a vicious circle. The more They missed, The more They shot and Then The more They missed.

With only eight games left before The playoffs, that was not good news for a team which wanted to go furTher than The conference finals.

OTher games on Sunday included: (away teams come first)

Los Angeles Clippers 124-113 New York Knicks

Cleveland Cavaliers 105-127 Milwaukee Bucks

Charlotte Hornets 115-114 Toronto Raptors

Houston Rockets 113-90 New Orleans Pelicans

Sacramento Kings 106-111 Los Angeles Lakers