#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Playoff races are hot as hell, especially in the West, how will the bottom of the bracket fill out?
Who is going to be the 6 seed in the East, and the 5 and 6 in the West?
What will be the key to getting them into those spots?

Rules: 1 point if you give thoughtful answers, which I will award after the timer ends for responses. The timer ends for responses at the moment the corresponding week's Sim is run.

Note: Use approximately 5 sentences as your bare minimum for 1 point. If you write 3 long, complex sentences, you'll still get a point. If you write 5, 3 word sentences, you will not get a point. Don't @ me.

Due: Deadline for Sim 11

Who is going to be the 6 seed in the East, and the 5 and 6 in the West?
What will be the key to getting them into those spots?
I think the Bulls hold on to the 6 seed in the East. The Hornets seem to have given up and are looking towards next season. The Cavaliers have played better than the Bulls recently but that -3.9 point differential is had to sustain wins with. Plus they look to have the tougher remaining schedule and more road games. But the fun thing is they play each other on the last game of the season so it could very well come down to one final game to determine the 6 seed.


I think the Jazz hold on to the 6 seed. The suns have stumbled pretty hard down the stretch and the lakers just can't seem to find any real momentum. Both teams have 7 road games to end the season but they play each other two more teams, each with a home game. The Jazz have won the previous 3 matchups so I wouldn't be surprised if they complete the series sweep and keep the Lakers out of the playoffs. Plus the injury to Detlef for the Lakers is a pretty big blow and they will be without him for the remainder of the regular season.

PS. the real fun is going to be seeing if the Supersonics can jump the Rockets for the 3 seed or if the Kings end up jumping the Supersonics for the 4 seed. This is definitely one of the more exciting finishes to a season in a while

Mike Lowry wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 3:17 pm Playoff races are hot as hell, especially in the West, how will the bottom of the bracket fill out?
Who is going to be the 6 seed in the East, and the 5 and 6 in the West?
What will be the key to getting them into those spots?

By my count, the Cavs will see a 3-5 record with a tossup against the Jazz and the Bulls will see a 3-3 record with two tossup games (and a win in hand) before the two teams lock horns on the final day of the regular season. The Cavaliers play the Jazz (tossup), Knicks twice (wins), Pistons (loss), Bucks twice (loss), Bullets (loss), Spurs (loss), Hawks win), and Bulls (tossup) while the Bulls play the Pacers twice (wins), Bucks (loss), Celtics twice (losses), 76ers (win), Suns (tossup), Mavericks (tossup) and Cavaliers. I think the East #6 seed comes down to the final game between those two and with the Bulls at home, I think they edge the Cavaliers out.

In the West, the Kings look like they have the easiest road with seven home dates, all against teams in the tank (except one vs the Suns) and just three road games left. I think they're an easy pick to get the five seed - though I don't think they rise higher - the Sonics have a 4 game lead in the loss column, and I see three, maybe four losses left on their schedule - the Kings aren't going to win out, so they're #5.
Someone's going to back into the #6 seed. The Suns don't have many gimmes left - they have only a game vs. the Pacers and at the Mavericks against teams not fighting for a playoff spot, so they will have to beat a lot of winning teams if they want to earn their way in. The Jazz have a brutal closing stretch with three home games (Mavs, Rockets, Lakers) and seven away games - though at least they get two dates with the Clippers! The Detlef injury (and 7 road games against 4 home games) probably does the Lakers in, though they have three head-to-head matchups against the Suns and Jazz left so if they find a way to sweep those games they might find a way in after all. I guess what I'm trying to say here is the #6 spot is almost certainly going to be determined by the four remaining head-to-head matchups among the Lakers, Suns, and Jazz (4/5 Suns at Lakers, 4/17 Jazz at Lakers, 4/19 Jazz at Suns, 4/20 Lakers at Jazz), particularly the last two days of the season. Whichever team gets the #6 seed will probably be coming off at at least one, and probably two wins at the other teams' expense.