The final two weeks of the NBA season should be interesting. There are races within playoff contenders that can't be ignored as shifts in the standings can take place at any moment. Here are the updates on the playoff standings and the teams still battling to cement their playoff spots.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz are clearly in the biggest battle as one of the two will win the Western Conference's eighth seed as the season winds down. The Lakers took over eighth place as the Jazz lost to the Denver Nuggets Wednesday night. The lost snapped their five-game winning streak that had given them a push and placed them as the favorite to win the eighth seed. The Lakers control their destiny as they have seven games remaining and just about two weeks left of basketball.
Another intriguing race not too far from the pit of the West is between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors. The Warriors scuffled badly right around the All-Star game. These struggles were evident as they dropped six games in a row. Two of these games came against the Rockets.
Currently, these teams are separated by just one game and they are keeping up with each other. The Warriors defeated the New Orleans Hornets and the Rockets defeated the Sacramento Kings. It will be interesting to see which team lets up first. It would take too steep of a fall for any of these two to end up in the eighth seed or completely out of the playoffs, so it is safe to say they are battling for the sixth spot.
As far as the Oklahoma City Thunder, it looks as though they will be holding on to the second seed because they can't seem to get past the No. 1 San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder are 1.5 games behind the Spurs in the Western Conference and they are simply stuck in second place.
Over in the Eastern Conference, the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers are playing musical chairs with the No. 2 spot. When one team wins they get bumped up to second place because of percentage points. Currently, as the Knicks have won 10 games in a row, they are 48-26 while the Pacers are half a game behind because they are 48-27, a loss short from tying the Knicks. The winner of the second seed looks like they'll be facing the Boston Celtics.
Another race to keep up with is the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls. These guys can flip flop any day as they are No. 5 and No. 6 seeds respectively and the Hawks hold just a .5 game lead over the Bulls.
The playoffs launch on Apr. 20. There are just about two weeks left before these guys decide their fate as the NBA Playoffs are set to take off.