Teams Battle For NBA Playoff Berths, Seeds At End Of Season
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(CBSMiami/AP) – Even teams that aren't going to make the playoffs are getting a taste of it during the final days of the season.
With just 72 hours left in the NBA's regular season, the playoffs virtually have already begun for a handful of teams.
Meanwhile, some of the league's elite are jockeying not only for top seeds, which decide matchups, but also for the right to host playoff games. Home court advantage is determined solely by record, not by seeding or if teams win their divisions.
In the Western Conference, Anthony Davis and the resilient Pelicans are close to edging out injury-plagued Oklahoma City for the conference's eighth and final playoff position. It would be New Orleans' first postseason appearance since coach Monty Williams' first season in 2010-11, when he had Chris Paul and Davis West.
Since then, the Pelicans have completely overhauled their roster to build around Davis, their All-Star forward who was the first overall draft pick in 2012.
At 43-37 entering Monday, New Orleans already has its first winning record in four seasons.
"One of our goals this year was to have a winning record. A goal that's out there — we all want it badly — is to make the playoffs," Williams said recently. "So we have a chance to do both. I'd say we've come a long way."
In the East, Boston is on the verge of clinching the seventh or eighth seed under second-year coach Brad Stevens, but Brooklyn, Indiana and Miami all entered Monday's games with a shot at one of the final two playoff spots as well.
At the top of the standings, teams that qualified for the postseason weeks ago still have plenty at stake. San Antonio, Houston, Memphis and the Los Angeles Clippers are all within one game of each other as they battle for the second-best record in the West behind Golden State, which would guarantee one of them homecourt advantage at least through the first two rounds.
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Here's a look at some of the playoff possibilities to be sorted out by Wednesday.
PELICANS-THUNDER: Thanks in no small part to Davis' game-winning, fall-away 3 as time expired in Oklahoma City earlier this season, the Pelicans hold the tiebreaker after winning three of four games against the Thunder. That means the Pelicans had a chance to clinch by winning at Minnesota on Monday night if the Thunder lose at home to Portland. If the teams remain tied heading into Wednesday's finales, then the West's last spot will hinge on the results of San Antonio at New Orleans and Oklahoma City at Minnesota — with the Spurs possibly looking to lock up the second seed.
BOSTON'S BACK? After routing a Cleveland squad that was resting starters Sunday, Boston was in the seventh spot in the East, one game ahead of both Brooklyn and Indiana with two games left. The Celtics hold the tiebreaker against both teams, meaning Boston clinches with one more win or one more loss by either the Nets or Pacers, who are tied for the eighth spot.
HEAT'S HOPE: At 35-45, Miami is technically alive, but would need to win its last two games, and would need both Brooklyn and Indiana to lose their last two.
WEST'S BEST: Because division winners can be seeded no worse than fourth, that's where Portland (51-29 entering Monday night's game) will end up. And though they won the Northwest Division, they'll open the playoffs on the road. The second seed will be the Southwest Division winner, which will be San Antonio, Houston or Memphis. Those three teams, along with the Clippers, all have a chance to finish with the West's second-best record — and all will finish with better records than Portland. The Spurs are 55-26, while the Rockets, Clippers and Grizzlies were all 54-26 entering Monday.
EAST'S ELITE: Toronto has clinched the Atlantic and will be the third-best division winner behind Atlanta and Cleveland, but could fall to the fourth seed behind Chicago, which entered Monday night with an identical 48-32 record. On Monday, the Bulls were in Brooklyn, where they could not only help themselves with a win, but also clinch a playoff spot for Boston. Washington also entered Monday with a chance to catch Chicago for the fourth-best record in the East and home advantage in the first round.
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