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Dallas closes the road portion of its season Friday night at Frost Bank Center, with tipoff set for 8:00 p.m. ET in San Antonio. The Mavericks come in at 25-55 and long since eliminated, while the Spurs are 61-19, locked into the No. 2 seed in the West, and trying to carry real momentum into next week’s playoff opener. San Antonio has won 13 of its last 14 and already owns all three meetings in this season series. That makes this an odd late-season handicap. The Spurs have the better roster, the better depth, the better form, and the much higher ceiling, but they also have very little left to prove in the standings. Dallas, on the other hand, has

The Memphis Grizzlies head to Delta Center on Friday night for a 9:30 p.m. ET tip against the Utah Jazz, and this one looks like a late-season game between two teams simply trying to get through the finish line without completely losing structure. Memphis comes in at 25-55 and has dropped six straight. Utah is 21-59, stuck in a 10-game skid, and this is the Jazz’s final regular-season home game. The market still opened with Utah favored, which tells you plenty about how thin and unstable Memphis has become over the past couple of weeks. Utah has at least been competitive in stretches, even if the results keep collapsing late. The Jazz were up eight at halftime in New Orleans

Oklahoma City heads to Ball Arena on Friday night for a 9:00 PM ET tip in a game that looks very different depending on who actually suits up. The Thunder are 64-16, first in the West, and already locked into the No. 1 overall seed. Denver is 52-28, sitting third in the conference, and this one still matters because the Nuggets are trying to protect that spot heading into the final weekend. The recent form points in opposite directions in terms of urgency, not quality. Oklahoma City has won seven straight and already handled Denver three times this season, including that dramatic March 9 win on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s buzzer-beater. Denver has won 10 in a row and has been excellent

Everything about this matchup points to playoff intensity before the play-in even starts. The Clippers arrive at Moda Center on Friday night at 10:00 p.m. ET sitting 41-39 and holding the No. 8 spot in the West, while Portland is 40-40 and one game back in ninth. That makes this one of the biggest games on the Friday board, especially with Los Angeles unable to create more separation after its 128-110 loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday. There is also recent history here, and it matters. Portland beat Los Angeles 114-104 on March 31, dominated the glass 48-30 in that game, and turned second-chance points into the difference. That result is a pretty clean roadmap for the Blazers. If they