Four teams down to wire for No. 8-No. 9 matchup in NBA Western Conference playoffs

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Four teams come down to the wire in Thursday games to pick a No. 8-No. 9 matchup to decide who will face No. 1 seed, the Los Angeles Lakers, next week in the NBA Western Conference playoffs.

Competing for those two spots are Memphis, Phoenix, Portland and San Antonio. It’s the only matchup yet to be determined in the pandemic bubble playoffs.

“We can finally look at it,” said Suns coach Monty Williams, whose team is 7-0 in the NBA bubble. “Nobody would have guessed the Phoenix Suns would have been in this position when all of this started.”

Also in the West, Houston and Oklahoma City will be in the 4-5 matchup and Utah will be the No. 6 seed. The Jazz were locked into that slot by the Thunder defeating Miami on Wednesday, and Denver became the No. 3 seed when it lost to the Clippers.

Clippers 124, Nuggets 111: Paul George scored 27 points, Kawhi Leonard had 26 and Los Angeles wrapped up the second seed in the West with a victory over Denver. The Clippers will face seventh-seeded Dallas when the playoffs get going next week.

Pacers 108, Rockets 104: Myles Turner had 18 points, reserve Edmond Sumner added a season-high 17 and Indiana held off a late rally by Houston and James Harden to end a five-game losing streak to the Rockets.

Raptors 125, 76ers 121: Stanley Johnson hit the tie-breaking basket in the lane with 4.9 seconds remaining, giving Toronto and Adrian Griffin a victory. Raptors coach Nick Nurse let his assistant coach run the team.