A deceptively large game for the Spurs

Of course every game is big when there are this few left and the race for homecourt is this close. But tomorrow night's game with the Grizzlies is all the more important because the outcome affects the tiebreaker between the Spurs and Mavericks.

With the win over the Hornets tonight, the Mavericks wrapped up a southwest division record of 13-3. The Spurs division record is 11-3 with tomorrow's game with Memphis and the finale April 19 at Houston. If the Spurs lose one of those two games, then they will lose the tiebreaker against the Mavericks. If the Spurs win those two games, they are assured of winning the tiebreaker with the Mavericks, since the next tiebreaker is conference record, and there is no sequence that allows the Mavericks and Spurs to finish with the same record unless the Spurs have more conference wins.

So it looks like winning tomorrow is just the difference between being a game ahead and tied in the standings. But in fact, it is closer to the difference between two games ahead and one game behind. A huge game tomorrow night.