The last five months of the NBA season have been filled with ups, downs, surprises and even disappointments. There was of course the Dunk Contest, the New York Knicks winning the NBA cup tournament, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s trade controversy and many other events around the league. However, there is only one more month before the NBA playoffs begin. With that being said, there are many different teams that are in contention for a playoff spot. As the season starts to wind down, there will be a push among many teams to take their spot. It’s necessary to take a closer look at some of those teams.
The top three current seeds in both conferences are the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics and Knicks in the east and the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets in the west. Some NBA fans, including myself, think that the Thunder will repeat this year. It’s not unlikely, but the Spurs are sitting right behind them in the western conference. The Spurs also hold the regular season series win against the Thunder as they were 4-1 against them.
There is an argument to be made that the Spurs could possibly upset the Thunder in the NBA playoffs, but that doesn’t always come to fruition. The 2012-13 Knicks are a good example of this. In the 2012-13 NBA season, the Knicks went 54-28 and beat the Miami Heat in the regular season 3-1, even though the Heat had a 66-16 record and once went on a 27-game winning streak. The Knicks ended up facing the Indiana Pacers in the second round and lost the series 4-2. This proves that regular season success doesn’t always predict the postseason.
Moving to the current playoff picture as it stands. Seeds 4-10 in the east as already mentioned, the next seven are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and the Heat. The Magic, Heat, Hawks and Hornets currently hold seeds that would require them to compete in the play-in round. In my opinion, the Heat and Hawks are the most probable to get in. The Heat will be the seventh seed and the Magic will be the eighth.
While this may come as a shock to some, the Heat statistically have the second best offense in the entire league, averaging 119.8 points and 47 rebounds per game. Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo are the main catalysts for this roster. I believe they will be able to ride this wave to the postseason. As for the Magic, they had sparks of energy throughout the season being led by Paolo Banchero, who averaged 21 points and seven rebounds per game. My estimates say that they will be the final two teams to get a playoff spot in the east.
Moving on to the western conference, seeds 4-10 include the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers. With most arguing that the west has more formidable talent and is considered a tougher conference than the east, the playoff spots are up in the air. However, I believe that the seventh seed will be the Lakers and the eighth will be the Trail Blazers.
Consider the fact that Luka Doncic has been averaging 32.6 points per game this season, along with LeBron James averaging 21 points on 49% field goal shooting. Not to mention the Lakers currently lead the league with a 50% field goal percentage. When it comes to the Trail Blazers, they are considered a wild card team, as they would play the first game of the play-in tournament. If Damian Lillard can get back from injury earlier than anticipated, he has shown routinely that he can continue to show up in clutch moments, evidenced by him recently winning the 3 Point Contest.
In conclusion, I believe that the final playoff picture for each conference will look like this: In the east, I predict 1. Detroit, 2. New York, 3. Boston, 4. Toronto, 5. Cleveland, 6. Philadelphia, 7. Miami and 8. Orlando. For the west, I predict 1. San Antonio, 2. Oklahoma City, 3. Houston, 4. Minnesota, 5. Denver, 6. Golden State, 7. Los Angeles and 8. Portland. I hope I’m right come April 18, but we will see soon enough.
