Darius Garland Makes His Clippers Debut And SGA Is Back

Noah Graham. Getty Images.

This is NBA Brain Food, the blog written by superfans of each team who are watching each game. This is the Western Conference edition. Here is the Eastern Conference blog from Friday.

1) Oklahoma City Thunder (47-15, 1st in the West) via Nick C

- The Thunder have come out of the All-Star break strong, winning six of the seven games since the break. The only loss was a close one against Detroit, and OKC was missing about half of its top-end roster on the second night of a back-to-back.

- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander returned from injury after a several-week absence and picked up right where he left off, still playing at an MVP level. OKC is 2-0 with him back, he’s scored 30+ in both games, and one of those wins was a convincing overtime victory over the Denver Nuggets.

- San Antonio is essentially the only team in the West that’s even in the conversation to threaten OKC’s hold on the one seed. The Thunder is three games up in the standings, but the Spurs own the tiebreaker, so it's functionally more like two. From there, no other team is within eight games, so barring something extreme, the rest of the West isn’t realistically in position to catch OKC.

- Jared McCain continues to be a major spark plug. Since joining OKC, he’s been the fastest Thunder player since 2012 to reach 100 points off the bench, and he’s also top five league-wide in three-point percentage off the bench since the trade, shooting over 40%.

- The schedule lightens up a bit over the next couple of weeks, not so much in opponent quality, but in the rest advantage. OKC has multiple two-day breaks on the horizon, which is badly needed given how banged up this roster has been.

2) San Antonio Spurs (43-17, 2nd in the West) via Rob G

- After going unbeaten all of February the Spurs took an L on the first day of March.  It was only the 3rd time in team history to do so and the only team in NBA history to do so while scoring at least 110 points.  San Antonio has one more game left on its annual rodeo road trip Tuesday where they play the 76ers for the first time this season and without Joel Embiid, they're a 6.5 point favorite. 

- Victor Wembanyama has looked as human as he's ever looked on the offensive side of the ball over the past week, that's because teams have been extra physical with him.  He seems to get frustrated at times, looking for refs to bail him out, and when he can't seem to get the ball where he feels comfortable he settles for long threes.  Which on nights where the ball is going in it's fine but he hasn't been consistent, he looks to be tired running up and down the court at times.  Defensively he's out of this world, averaging 4 blocks over the last 5 games.  On nights where he isn't scoring he still affects the game,  he'll get guys open with all the double and triple teams he gets allowing for guys to get wide open corner 3s.

- Two of the past three games have seen every starter score in double didgets.  They get to the basket and hit open threes, vs the Knicks they had just three players score double digits.  Like every team in any sport, you're going to lose most games where you can't knock down shots.  I don't know if it was Madison Square Garden that was too big of a stage for some of these guys. But they need to show that no stage is too big if they want to make a run at the title.  

- One guy who has shown that he can hoop on any stage is Dyllan Harper, the guy just impresses every game.  Over his past five games he's averaging nearly 13/5/3 in just 24 minutes while shooting 57.8% from the field.  He may not win rookie of the year because he isn't a starter, but the impact he's had on this team is more than the numbers show. 

- The Spurs have a tough stretch of games coming up where they play the Nuggets, Pistons, Celtics, Clippers twice and the Rockets, they need to win if they want to keep up with the Thunder.  Seven of the next ten games are at home where they are currently 21-6.  As always Go Spurs Go 

3) Houston Rockets (38-22, 3rd in the West) via Freddy V

- The Rockets capped off a 2-1 road trip with a win in Washington on Monday night 123-118. Reed Sheppard had 10 assists and six steals, both career highs for the second-year player. Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun both had 30+ points while Amen Thompson added 22 of his own. The Rockets are now 5-2 after the all-star break.

- Kevin Durant has been on fire since his burner was discovered (allegedly), Durant has three 30-point games in a row and five total since the all-star break. Since the All-star break Durant is averaging 29.4 PPG,6.1 RPG, 5.1 APG and 54.1% FG, he also has the most total points of any player in that span. Durant has the most 30-point games in the NBA in 2026. 

- Reed Sheppard has been hooping these last couple of weeks and has really seen an increase in minutes. Over his last four games Sheppard is averaging 20.3 PPG, 5.3 APG, 4.5 RPG, 2.5 SPG, 43.8% FG and 44.4% 3P. Sheppard became the youngest player in Rockets history to record 10+ points, 10+ assists and 5+ steals in a game on Monday night versus the Wizards. The Rockets are now 7-2 when Reed Sheppard starts this season. With Amen Thompson leaving the game late in the 4th quarter and Jabari Smith Jr dealing with an ankle injury, we should be seeing Sheppard in the starting rotation for the foreseeable future. 

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- Jabari Smith Jr left the game late in the 4th quarter versus the Magic and has been sidelined the last two games with a sprained ankle. Ime Udoka says the plan is still for Jabari Smith Jr. to return to action on Thursday when the Rockets host Golden State. Amen Thompson left the game late in the 4th quarter Monday night versus the wizards. It was unclear what the exact injury was, but it looked to be an ankle injury as he limped to the locker room. It remains to be seen how much time Thompson will miss or if he misses any at all. 

4) Minnesota Timberwolves (38-23 4th in the West) via Spencer C

- Timberwolves had a fantastic week going 3-0 with a great performance over the Nuggets on Sunday. If we matchup with the Nuggets in the playoffs it will make for one unbelievable 7 game series. 

- Anthony Edwards continues to amaze me and I feel lucky I get to watch him play for my favorite team. Start putting some respect on Ant Man’s name and put him in contention for MVP!!

- Ayo is starting to facilitate more and looks already more comfortable on the court. As he starts building more confidence with the team I think he will be a very important role come playoffs.

- Julius Randle plays lazy basketball and it’s starting to become a problem. Finch needs to learn how to make in game adjustments and bench players when they need to be benched. Watching Randle try to ISO and back down 3 guys to just chuck a brick makes my skin boil.

- We have 3 home games this week all games we SHOULD win. Next step is to take over that #3 spot in the west which is very doable. We are a much better team than the Rockets. 

5) Denver Nuggets (38-24, 5th in the West) via Grant M

- The Nuggets are not the most fun watch right now. They have been awful in the clutch and blowing leads all over the place. After getting outscored 36-19 in the second quarter against the Wolves on Sunday, Coach David Adelman said “that was the game”, and “it cost us big time”. A closer-than-it-should-have-been win against the Jazz on Monday night doesn’t really help matters. Something is off with the Nuggets, and with the hardest strength of schedule in the league remaining it doesn’t look to change much any time soon. This team badly misses Aaron Gordon and the defense/energy he provides. Adding Tyus Jones feels like a band-aid on a knife wound. 

- Cam Johnson has struggled to find a rhythm this season, both pre and post injury. He was 0/6 from the floor including 0/6 from three on Sunday, with games of 7, 11, and 9 in the last week. They have to find way to get him more confidence and get more out of him if they want to look like a team that can make a deep playoff run. He missed Monday night’s game with an ankle injury.

- Conversely, Christian Braun has quietly been getting back to the things that make him great, with 15 against Minnesota on Sunday and 23 against OKC on Friday. While he’s still finding his stroke from 3 he has pulled down 5+ boards in the last 5 games and played solid defense on some tough assignments. 

- Jamal Murray dropped 45 in Monday’s win against the Jazz. His best season continues, hopefully into the playoffs. All-time the Nuggets are 10-0 when Jamal Murray scores 40+. Hopefully this is a harbinger of things to come. 

- Lu Dort tried to injure Nikola Jokic in Friday night’s game in OKC. I don’t care what Mark Daigenault says, he is a dirty player and his actions certainly aren’t just the actions of a “competitive player” that “boiled over”. However, that moment did lead to a picture of Nikola Jokic that should strike fear into anybody who comes in contact with the Nuggets. 

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- Another tough slate this week for the Nuggets as they play home games against the Knicks and Lakers before heading back to OKC next Monday for Dort v Jokic round 2. Expect fireworks.

6) LA Lakers (36-24, 6th in the West) via Andrew K

- The Lakers had a very strange week, two back breaking losses to the Magic and Suns that the Lakers just fumbled down the stretch. Then the Lakers just blasted past the Kings (I feel bad for these fans) and the Warriors.

- There have been a lot of things going around about the big fella, Mr. Ayton. The Lakers training staff writes this on his bottles, “DA’s Crunk Juice – Drink this to unleash the beast”. Now, who knows if the beast being unleashed is whispering to him to not rebound or cut aggressively but when you need extra motivation go for it.

- The media really focusing on Luka and tearing him down this past week has been so strange. Over the past 4 games Luka is averaging 29/7/10 on 50/42/72, the only real weakness you can point out is Luka’s FT%.

- The biggest weakness for the Lakers on defense, as of recent, is ball movement. The Lakers run a switch defense that has got them in a lot of trouble. When it comes to quick rotations and screen actions the Lakers give up easy looks often.

- This week the Lakers will take on the Pelicans (Zion saying he’s playing on ESPN??), the Nuggets (Nuggets 2 days off between), Pacers (this will be a great game, seriously) and finishing with the Knicks on Sunday.

7) Phoenix Suns (34-26, 7th in the West) via Steven Cheah

- The Suns only had two games in the last week which was good as Dillon Brooks is out and Devin Booker had some time to heal.

- They went 2-2 with an ugly 16 point loss to the Celtics, but a huge three point win against the Lakers to pull them within two games of LA for the Pacific Division lead. Phoenix also has the tiebreaker at 3-1 in the head-to-head this season.

- Devin Booker is off the injury report and much needed as Phoenix has scored below 95 points in three of their last five games.

8) Golden State Warriors (31-30, 8th in the West) via TJ

- With last night's home loss to the Clippers, the Warriors' record over this past week fell to 1-3. They hold a 1.5-game lead over the Clippers for the 8th seed (1 game ahead in the loss column). It would take a long losing streak to fall completely out of the play-in at this point (6 losses ahead of the 11th-place Grizzlies), but they look nothing like a playoff team these days without franchise legend Steph Curry. 

- Curry has missed 11 straight games with his sore runner's knee, and was recently asked about his injury, and if he may return this season during an in-game interview with ESPN's Malika Andrews. Quotes from Steph like, "This is a weird one." "It's kind of unpredictable how it'll heal" did not inspire confidence in a fanbase already losing faith in the season after Jimmy Butler was lost to an ACL tear. Steph is an eternal optimist and is still hopeful of helping make a playoff push, saying, "trying to stay in shape, strengthen everything else around the body, knowing at this stage, once you get back, it's a full sprint to the playoffs." "Once I get back on the court, it's a little bit of a pain tolerance thing. But it's just something you don't want lingering because it can get worse." The training staff re-evaluated Steph after the interview, and he will need at least 10 more days to recover before he can consider seeing the court again. That means he will miss at least the next 5 games. At this stage, many Warriors fans are wondering what the point is of pushing the league's oldest team, already decimated by injuries to its stars, to make a playoff push.

- Which brings us to their newly acquired Latvian Center (traded for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield), Kristaps Porzingis. He has been rumored since last year to be diagnosed with POTS, which caused him to miss more games in Atlanta than he played in before being traded to Golden State at the trade deadline. He has played a total of 1 game (17 minutes) for the Warriors before going on sick leave. Coach Steve Kerr was asked last week in a radio interview about Porzingis' health and said the Hawks GM told him KP never had POTS to begin with. "I read about the POTS diagnosis and called the Hawks (GM), Onsi Saleh. He's a good friend of mine, and I said, 'Is the POTS story real?' He said it's actually not POTS. That was some misinformation that was out there." Although it didn't take Kerr long to regret his comment about KP's health, and he said he should have left medical diagnoses to professionals, it is concerning that no one seems to know what is causing him to miss games. Some fans and pundits have speculated that the trade was made only to dump salary, since KP's contract is expiring. If so, that would be the second large salary-dump move in which the Warriors brass has traded young talent for an expiring contract in the last few years (Jordan Poole for Chris Paul). Not how Steph's loyalty to the franchise should be rewarded, especially after turning them into the league's most valuable franchise, after they were considered an afterthought before he got there. One would hope the team's decision-makers recognize that and can surround him with enough talent to make his final years with the franchise he raised to glory competitive. 

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9) LA Clippers (29-31, 9th in the West) via Steven Cheah

- The Clippers are coming off back-to-back wins over the Pelicans by 20 and the Warriors by 13

- They're 3-3 since the All-Star break

- Benn Mathurin has cooled off since a hot start averaging 13/6/1 over his last 3 games on 32% shooting

- Darius Garland made his Clippers debut last night and finished with 12-2-2 on 44% shooting in 23 minutes

10) Portland Trail Blazers (29-33, 10th in the West) via Casey G

- A pretty horrendous 1-3 week for the blazers as they got absolutely blown out by the hawks and hornets. 

- Jrue Holiday had a nice scoring week this week, scoring over 22 points 3 times. 

- Thiago Splitter does not seem to know much about being a head coach in the NBA, as the blazers have no offensive scheme and shoot a lot of 3s without having great shooters. 

-At this point, the blazers are destined for the 10 seed in the play in, and are going to have to win back to back road games to make the playoffs.

11) Memphis Grizzlies (23-36, 11th in the West) via Alex B

- Unfortunately, the Grizzlies lost the tank battle last week with two wins over the Mavericks and Pacers on Friday and Sunday.

- In all seriousness, it was nice to see Memphis get back in the win column and get to see some guys like Taylor Hendricks and Walter Clayton Jr. start to settle in. Clayton Jr. tied the franchise single-game rookie record for assists (14). It's also the most assists by any NBA rookie in a game this season. Hendricks made a career-high five three-pointers in the win over the Pacers on Sunday.

- There's always injury news surrounding Memphis and the Grizzlies announced that Zach Edey would be undergoing surgery again on his ankle that kept him out a majority of this season. This will likely end what should have been a promising sophomore season for a core piece of the Grizzlies future. Brandon Clarke will be reevaluated in two weeks after being out since December 20 with a calf injury.

- In roster move news, Memphis and Kyle Anderson announced a buyout agreement with Anderson signing with the Timberwolves after clearing waivers. After the move, they proceeded to sign 16-year NBA veteran Taj Gibson to a multi-year contract.

12) Dallas Mavericks (21-39, 12th in the West) via J.D.

- The Mavs were 1-3 in the last week with losses to the Kings, Grizzlies, and Thunder, the only win coming against the Brooklyn Nets.

- Cooper Flagg has still not played since the All-Star Break. He is officially no longer the favorite in the Rookie of the Year race with Kon Knuppel taking over.

- In their 4 losses since the All Star Break, the Mavs have been down by an average of 13.5 points after the first quarter. They have struggled in the first quarter all season, often having to come back from double digits only to run out of gas and fall short in the 4th.

- The Mavs made a series of moves, waiting guard Tyus Jones, signing two-way guard Ryan Nembhard to a standard contract. And signing two sharpshooting prospects to two way deals. 

- Injuries continue to pile up for the Mavs. In addition to Derrick Lively II and Kyrie Irving who have been out all year, Cooper Flagg remains out, Naji Marshall, PJ Washington, and Marvin Bagley II have missed time and Klay Thompson is questionable for Tuesday's game against the Hornets.

- The Mavs have upcoming games against the Hornets, Magic, Celtics, Raptors.

13) New Orleans Pelicans (19-43, 13th in the West) via Colby J

- The Pelicans are 6-3 in their last nine games, including a four-game winning streak against Philadelphia, Golden State, and Utah twice. New Orleans has the 5th highest offensive rating in the NBA during that stretch. 

- Dejounte Murray has returned from his Achilles injury and has played in 3 of the last 5 games. Murray has looked solid in his return, averaging 15/5 on 24 MPG. DJM had a really tough 2024-25 campaign both on and off the court, it’s great seeing him back on the court and getting the Pels back in the win column. 

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- Zion Williamson didn’t play in the loss vs. the Clippers, it was his first missed game after a career-high 35 consecutive games played. Williamson is set to return tonight against LA and as much criticism as Zion has received, he deserves some credit for finally getting in shape and taking his body seriously. 

- Saddiq Bey scored a season-high 42 points last Thursday against the Jazz. Bey has been consistent all season and already has 22 20-point games this season. Bey is back next year at only $6M per year, getting him an extension should be a top priority for New Orleans this offseason. 

- Trey Murphy III had a tough return to the lineup against the Clippers after missing 5 straight games with a shoulder contusion. In his four games before the injury, Murphy was averaging 27.5 PPG on 52% from 3. 

- Rookie guard Jeremiah Fears scored a career-high 28 points in a loss to the Clippers while shooting 5/6 from 3. In Fears last 8 games he’s averaging 15/5/5, and these last 20 games will be very valuable experience for Fears to get used to playing in the same backcourt as Dejounte Murray. 

- New Orleans is on a West Coast road trip as they play their next three games @LA Lakers, @Sacramento, and @Phoenix, before traveling home Sunday to take on the Wizards. 

14) Utah Jazz (18-43, 14th in the West) via Collin T

- The Direction Is Clear: Embrace the TankThe Utah Jazz are prioritizing development over wins. Utah sits near the bottom of the Western Conference, the defense has struggled, and the focus is clearly on lottery positioning first, wins second. Young guys are getting a real run so the future can look brighter.

- Lauri’s MRI Is Bigger Than Just the InjuryLauri Markkanen underwent an MRI in front of the "League Doctors" showing hip impingement, inflammation, and a bone bruise, sidelining him for at least a couple weeks. He’s been the team’s leading scorer (roughly 23–25 PPG), so his absence hits on the court — and off it adds to the tank talk. With Utah not in playoff contention, there’s zero rush to bring back a franchise cornerstone until he’s really ready.

- The NBA Is WatchingWith Adam Silver and the league office talking about “competitive integrity,” Utah’s moves are under more scrutiny than usual. Prior fines for resting players have already put the Jazz on the league’s radar. Add in a higher draft pick in play and injuries to key guys, and every lineup decision feels like it’s being interpreted through a tanking lens — whether that’s fair or not. There are such bigger issues the league has right now then focusing on the Utah Jazz…the UTAH JAZZ!!! 

- Ace Bailey Is Showing Real SparkRookie Ace Bailey has been one of the few consistently positive storylines recently. While his season average is around 11–12 points and nearly 4 rebounds per game, he’s shown an uptick in production in recent outings, including a team-leading 23 points against the Pelicans and a strong 18 in the Nuggets game. Those flashes make him one of the few bright young pieces in Utah’s future, even if his efficiency and playmaking still have room to grow.

- Competitive Losses Are the Ideal OutcomeTake the close loss to the Denver Nuggets: Jamal Murray exploded for 45, Nikola Jokić lived at the free-throw line, and Utah stayed close enough to entertain without sacrificing draft positioning. That’s the balance the Jazz want — develop young players, keep games competitive, and still protect future assets.

15) Sacramento Kings (14-48, 15th in the West) via Ben M

- This poor 2-8 over the last 10 contributes to a long season skid and positions them low in standings (15th in West, far from playoff contention).

- Kings offense averaged roughly 109-110 points per game, with occasional solid scoring (130 vs. DAL, 123 vs. MEM) but often held under 110 in losses.

- Kings Opponents averaged around 124-125 points per game in this span; Kings gave up high scores frequently, aligning with their season defensive rating problems.

- Precious Achiuwa emerged as a standout in spot minutes, highlighted by a career-high 29 points and 12 rebounds in the Feb 26 upset win over Dallas, adding energy on the boards and efficient inside scoring during the road-heavy stretch.

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- Maxime Raynaud contributed solid interior production, scoring 22 points in the Dallas win and averaging double-digit points with strong FG% (around 55-60% season-long), plus rebounding help in the frontcourt amid Domantas Sabonis’ absence.

- The team plays next vs. Phoenix Suns (home, March 3), potentially a chance to snap the recent slide.