Close race
Competition in the National Basketball Association regular season is down to its last two weeks and for all intents hardly is settled yet, particularly where teams are going to end up entering the playoffs. As things stand currently, four teams have booked their spots in the playoffs in the Eastern Conference while in the Western side seven have clinched postseason berths.
Owing to their surge of late, the Boston Celtics ( 50- 27) have overtaken the defending champions Cleveland Cavaliers (4927) on top of the East. But the Cavs could well reclaim it with six games left in their schedule, and the third- running Toronto Raptors ( 47- 30) and Washington Wizards ( 46- 31) still not out of the race as well for the top seed.
In the bottom half, seven teams are battling for the four remaining playoff spots.
The Milwaukee Bucks (40-37) are in fifth place right now but have stiff competition for it in no. 6 team Atlanta Hawks (39-38).
The Chicago Bulls ( 38- 39) were not given much chance when Dwyane Wade was ruled to miss the remainder of the season because of an elbow injury. They, however, have won four straight of late and willed themselves back to no. 7.
Joint eighth place right now are the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, both sporting identical 37- 40 records. The former holds the tie- breaker between the two but the Pacers can easily supplant the Heat for it in a heartbeat.
The Charlotte Hornets ( 36- 41) and Detroit Pistons ( 35- 42), too, are still not out of it and could well latch on to no. 8, or even no. 7 depending on how they perform in the next fortnight.
Out in the Western Conference, it is pretty safe to say that the first three spots are shoo- ins.
You have the Golden State Warriors (63-14) as no. 1, boosted by their ongoing 11- game winning streak even sans All- Star forward Kevin Durant. The San Antonio Spurs (59-17) would finish second and the James Harden- led Houston Rockets ( 52- 25) at third spot.
The much-improved Utah Jazz (47-30) occupy the fourth spot but still have the Los Angeles Clippers (47-31) to deal with for it.
A couple of rungs below is the jockeying for the sixth spot between Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder ( 43- 33) and the Memphis Grizzlies ( 42- 35), which with the way the teams are performing is as open as it gets.
Then there is the race for the lone remaining spot in the West, eyed by three teams — Portland TrailBlazers ( 38- 39), Denver Nuggets (36-40) and New Orleans Pelicans (33-44).
Portland is currently inside but the recent injury to Jusuf Nurkic may slow down the team’s playoff push down the line which the Nuggets could capitalize on.
The Pelicans still have a shot but their room for error is small and the inevitable exit may eventually come.
Looking at the scenarios at hand and how close the race is, two weeks of NBA regular season play is still an eternity for the myriad of possibilities. And the thing about it all, it does not stop there for the postseason could well be as intricate considering how things have panned out so far in The Association. Exciting hoops fare, NBA- style, ahead.