QUARANTITLE - 8/6

1. Kings (140) vs Pelicans (125)

• Forget Defense - Sacramento scored 49 points in the first quarter. That should tell you all you need to know about this ugly display between two former contenders for the play-in. Let's be honest, this story is about Portland and Memphis now. The New Orleans subplot was admittedly fun while it lasted, but it's over now.

2. Bucks (130) vs Heat (116)

• Tough Break for Miami - Absolute heartbreaker for one of my favorite teams in the bubble. Milwaukee has been resting their stars and taking it easy after clinching the 1st seed, this game should've been an easy Miami win. It wasn't. Miami is jockeying for seeding with Indiana, Philly, and potentially Boston if they were to keep winning. A victory over Milwaukee would've given them a comfortable 2 game lead over Indiana in the 4th seed to avoid dropping to 6th and playing Boston. To be clear, 4 and 5 are interchangeable in Orlando given the lack of homecourt advantage. But if I were Erik Spoelstra, I'd much rather play a hobbled Pacers squad over Boston any day of the week.

3. Suns (114) vs Pacers (99)

• The Phoenix Shoe Fits - Going into the season restart, we knew some sort of unpredictable chaos would ensue. The Phoenix Suns have been at the helm of that chaos. They're 4-0 in the bubble so far, beating 3 quality opponents in the Mavericks, Clippers, and Pacers today. I along with many others were skeptical about this team being included in the bubble altogether. Safe to say they've silenced all critics over this 4 game stretch and hope to continue. I love the Phoenix story so far, primarily because of the March Madness-esque element to it. I'm still not totally on board with Devin Booker as a player yet, but I'm confident that he'll be around the league for 15+ years based on the direction the game is moving towards coinciding with his own playstyle. In an effort to be 100% self-aware, here's what I said about Phoenix just 6 short days ago:

"Contrary to my previous point, I actually really like nearly every player on the Suns individually. Together? Clearly not a match. But in the right situations? Absolutely! Throw Deandre Ayton on a team lacking size such as the Celtics or Clippers and he's an instant playoff contributor. Send Devin Booker to the Magic and they become a playoff team as explained in my earlier point. This squad has a ton of talent just without the proper coaching to utilize it." - from Blazers and Grizzlies Bring the House Down.

• TJ Warren Misses His Moment - My daily Quarantitle feed has slowly been evolving into TJ Warren propaganda since his breakout stretch in Orlando. In today's game, he had the world's attention and a good storyline to go with it. Good player gets traded for next to nothing, he breaks out and has his revenge against them with momentum on his side. It's straight from a movie. Unfortunately, sports aren't scripted and TJ was massively underwhelming. It wasn't for lack of trying, TJ was 7/20 from the field and 1/5 from three. He couldn't get anything going and in turn ended what will be the most relevant period of his career. It was fun while it lasted TJ, you never even got a nickname.

4. Clippers (126) vs Mavericks (111)

• Read X's and Owens - I'd love to share my thoughts about this game but it would be an injustice to steal the spotlight from the man behind X's and Owens, Owen Daryani. Owen is a lifelong Mavs fan whose opinion on the team holds much more value than mine ever will. Take a look at his article for a more in-depth recap.

5. Trail Blazers (125) vs Nuggets (115)

• Blazers Can Taste It - Like I mentioned earlier, the west's 8th seed has come down to a two horse race. Portland is now just .5 games back from Memphis for the 8th seed and will likely overtake them if their freefall continues. As much of a Grizzlies fan as I am, Portland has earned this. They've executed every night and understood who their identity better than most teams. A Memphis loss tomorrow will put them at #8.

• Huge Swing for #2 Seed - After today's events, Denver is 1.5 games back of the 2 seed. This has become the most important seeding battle as one would have to play either Houston or Dallas, the latter of which is preferable for most teams. Houston has been fantastic so far in the bubble and present a rough matchup for Denver to defend. They could've taken the 2 seed today with a win and a Clippers loss, however, the inverse happened. Clippers have strengthened their lead and now look to be a lock barring any unpredictable circumstances. Watch out for the Denver-LA matchup next week which could decide the seeding ig things go awry for Kawhi.

6. Rockets (113) vs Lakers (97)

• Sore Groins - LA isn't taking this seriously and why should they? They've been spectacular all season and have earned the #1 seed handedly. The rest of their games are meaningless and they know it.

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