The NBA Standings 2013 saw movement once again as we enter the final stretch of the regular season. With under a month remaining before the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers are making things pretty interesting. Find out how their results from Thursday affected the standings.
The Lakers are in trouble, or so it appears that way as Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash aren't 100 percent and could miss time in the closing days of the 2013 season. It's definitely not good news for the Lakers or their fans as the Lakers loss to the 35-36 Milwaukee Bucks shrunk their game lead over the Utah Jazz for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Bucks beat the Lakers 113-103 though Bryant scored 30 points in this one. The Lakers are now 1-4 in their last five games, which isn't the best time of the year to begin scuffling. However, for the Jazz this is great news. A combination of a Laker loss and a Jazz victory gets Utah back into the playoff picture.
Coincidentally, the other team that improved their positioning in their conference standings, the Pacers, defeated the Dallas Mavericks, keeping the Lakers 1.5 games above Dirk Nowitzki's crew. With the victory, the Pacers helped themselves push into the second seed in the Eastern Conference. They won that matchup 103-78.
The Pacers being in second place means the New York Knicks don't get to face the Boston Celtics, which could be a blessing in disguise for N.Y., but this means that the Pacers face the tougher of the two teams as the Atlanta Hawks are in possession of sixth place. If given a chose, a lot of teams would rather face the Hawks over the Celtics.
While the second seed is always a prized possession, it seems that it would be the spot in the standings a team would want to avoid. The Pacers have yet to beat the Celtics in 2012-2013.
Here's what the Eastern Conference standings look as of Friday afternoon.
