All playoffs so far have been claimed as NBA engines in their final week of this bizarre season.
But the Western Conference’s fight to the end will be epic. Four clubs remain on the hunt and all are separated in one game.
After the last qualifying, we will be waiting for the last playoff lead, and then qualify the 4 groups fighting for the eighth seed based on their chances of securing the place.
Latest NBA rankings
Eastern Conference
1. z-Milwaukee Bucks (55-16)
2. y-Toronto Raptors (51-19)
3. x-Boston Celtics (47-23)
4. y-Miami Heat (44-27)
5. Pacers x-Indiana (43-28)
6. x-Philadelphia 76ers (42-28)
7. x-Brooklyn Nets (34-36)
8. x-Orlando Magic (32-29)
9. e-Washington Wizards (24-26)
Western Conference
1. z-Los Angeles Lakers (52-18)
2. x-Los Angeles Clippers (47-23)
3. Y-Denver Nuggets (46-25)
4. Rockets and-Houston (44-25)
5. x-Oklahoma City Thunder (43-27)
6. x-Utah Jazz (43-28)
7. x-Dallas Mavericks (43-30)
8. Memphis Grizzlies (33-38)
9. Portland Trail Blazers (33-39)
10. Phoenix Suns (32-39)
11. San Antonio Spurs (31-38)
12. e-New Orleans Pelicans (30-40)
13. e-Sacramento Kings (29-41)
z-clinched conference
division in Y
playoff place
e-removed from the playoffs
Scheduled draw for the playoffs
Eastern Conference
No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. Orlando Magic
No. 2 Toronto Raptors vs. No. No. 7 Brooklyn Nets
No Boston Celtics vs. No 6 Philadelphia 76ers
Four Miami Heat vs. Five Indiana Pacers
Western Conference
No. 1 for Los Angeles Lakers vs. No. No. Portland Trail Blazers
No. 2 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 7 Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets vs. Houston Rockets No. 6 Utah Jazz
Four Denver Nuggets vs. No. Five Oklahoma City Thunder
Ranking of the 4 fighting for The No. 8 seed in the West
1. Portland Trail Blazers
As our fore pageant has already revealed, we like the success of the Blazers.
Portland has the ultimate productive attack on the bubble, and his defense remains generous, having at least one stronger hit with Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins back in the fold. Damian Lillard plays on the MVP point (33.0 points, 9.5 assists in six games) and CJ McCollum is on a short list of the league’s top talented co-starists.
The Blazers are obviously the team with the highest talent in this race, and were finalists for the convention just a year ago. Even if they want to win two games in the entry tournament, they have the staff to do so.
2. Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies’ unexpected good fortune ahead of schedule this season still allows them to their fate, but they are kept through a thread.
Memphis only has one win to show off in six bubble battles, and the loss of Jaren Jackson Jr. Removing anything from the deadline to take in Justise Winslow (absent during the season with a hip injury) either.
On paper, the Grizzlies would possibly have the weakest active list of the four teams, however, their initial good fortune when they are in full strength gives them the most productive chance of getting there. Their last two warheaded parts, the Bucks and the Celtics, have already blocked their playoffs, so they can also sit their stars or at least restrict their minutes. The road to the play-in tournament is open for the Grizzlies, and they can also enter as eighth seed.
3. Phoenix Suns
If you only started paying attention to the NBA once the bubble opened, you’d have a hard time convincing yourself that it’s not the most productive basketball team.
Phoenix is the only undefees team in Orlando (6-0), and has the highest net bubble score (elite plus-11.1). Three of his six victories were double-digit. The Suns have 3 players with an average of at least 14 problems: Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Cameron Johnson and Dario Saric, and all get more than 50% of the box (and all Bookers are 40% deep).
Phoenix leaves nothing to chance, however, still wages a difficult war because of what happened before the global hoops were interrupted. The Suns entered the bubble six games in eighth place. Reducing this deficit to one is remarkable. Phoenix was given the chance to aim, but the odds are not yet in favor of this team.
4. San Antonio Spurs
Betting against Gregg Popovich and the Spurs is rarely a sensible strategy. Even after Pop pressed the importance of player progression in Orlando, the team struggled tooth and nail for their 22-year-old playoff streak.
Spurs have a 4-2 record within the bubble and their net score of over-2.6 ranks seventh among the 22 participants. DeMar DeRozan demonstrated why he was four-time All-Star (21.5 tracks and 6.0 assists), and Derrick White had moments of brilliance (20.8 tracks, 4.8 assists and 4.7 rebounds).
But San Antonio has not strayed from its player progression initiative. The sixth man, Patty Mills, played only three times to lose more minutes for younger players. Add the fact that there are two difficult games left on the calendar, the Rockets and Jazz, and it seems that, despite everything, we’re going to have our first postseason without the Spurs in decades.
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@Jonwass simulated the effects of the lottery, and with the first overall selection, the New York KnicksArray.
The league will distribute the “qualifying game player” and the qualifying team in the media vote.