Who's playing for what?

[WigNosy]

As we come down the stretch, I thought it would be interesting to look at "who is playing for what" during the final 10-ish games of the season. We'll go from "most interesting to watch" to "least interesting to watch" instead of by conference or anything else.

GRIZZLIES, WARRIORS, SUPERSONICS, MAVERICKS, SPURS - One of the Midwest teams here will get the #2 seed by virtue of winning the Midwest division. The other 4 teams are all fighting for seeds 3 through 6. While they'll all want the #3 seed, which brings homecourt plus avoiding the Lakers until the Conference Finals, I'm not sure the 6 seed won't be the consolation prize. If you don't get the 3 seed, you're stuck matched up with a tough opponent regardless of whether you finish 4, 5, or 6, but the winner of the 4/5 matchup gets the Lakers in the Semis instead of the Conference Finals. Maybe the 6 seed is better than either the 4/5 spots? Watching this 5-way race down the stretch will be fun, and the best part is it's just setting up a bloodbath in the playoffs when things will get REALLY interesting with heated battles among these 5 teams likely for much of the Western playoffs.

HAWKS, RAPTORS - Still fighting it out for the Central crown and homecourt throughout the playoffs. Both teams have a road-heavy closing schedule, which means they'll both have to earn it. These two have been back and forth all season and the Superstar Wars (the Hawks and Raptors combined to send 7 players to the all-star game) probably won't stop at the end of the regular season - they'll go until one (or both) exit the playoffs.

JAZZ, KINGS, BLAZERS, CLIPPERS - Four teams. Two playoff spots. The Blazers and Clippers have a tough row to hoe to make it in, however, since they're 2 back in the loss column and aren't exactly on fire of late. I don't think Wednesday's sim settles anything conclusively... that will have to wait until Friday.

76ERS, MAGIC, CAVALIERS, PISTONS, HEAT - Five teams, three playoff berths. The 76ers look pretty safe, especially having gone 9-1 in their last 10 to really solidify themselves as a playoff squad, but can't afford to relax in a roller-coaster season. You might see one or two of these teams drop out with Wednesday's sim, but nobody will be truly safe until Friday.

NUGGETS, TIMBERWOLVES, SUNS - The Big Three of tanking this year, and the chase for the best odds to draft LeBron may well continue all the way to the final day of the season.

KNICKS, HORNETS - Aren't going to catch the Big Three tanking in the West, but would both like to be #4 in line for the pre-lotto order to get a crack at Chris Bosh if the lotto order holds. The Knicks hold the edge with a 1-9 tailspin to the Hornets' surprising 6-4 late surge. If there's any karma, if the Hornets win 6 more of their final 9 games, they'll win the lottery for not utterly bottoming out... but I doubt either will happen.

BULLS, CELTICS - These are your most likely 4/5 seeds, and will be dueling for Home Court down the stretch. It's possible someone else could jump in here in case of a swoon, but I think the 4/5 matchup is pretty set. It's just about homecourt now with two relatively young teams.

LAKERS - Have all but wrapped up the #1 seed in the West. They're just playing to stay healthy. Don't be surprised if they start sitting players to get healthy.

WIZARDS - Like the Lakers, have a virtual lock on the Atlantic (and the #2 seed). They're playing to stay healthy, too. Boring.

NETS, PACERS, BUCKS, ROCKETS - Playing out the string at this point. They're not going to jump up the standings into the playoffs or shoot up the pre-lotto draft order. They might shift up or down a spot but nothing earth-shattering. The only interest they'll generate is if they beat a team in the playoff seeding scramble, and then only as a spoiler.

[78#]

Spoiler Alert!!!

[coltsguy510]

Like

[PaulyP]

Pretty acurate

[IamQuailman]

Awarded 5 points (towards last yers point cap)