West Playoff Seedings & Projections (Page 4 UPDATE)

[MMyhre]

It`s starting to look like the easiest West for the Nuggets, I think they would sweep OKC just by playing hard, tough and using their size in the paint. Clips falling apart. Wolves injured. Suns ****. Warriors same. Kings meh. I guess the Pelicans and the Mavericks could pose a challenge? I would say Lakers, but we all know the Nugs own them so...

[C3H6N6O6]

Suns remaining schedule is brutal.
They'd be lucky to go 5-5 given how they have been playing.

[nomansland]

It`s starting to look like the easiest West for the Nuggets, I think they would sweep OKC just by playing hard, tough and using their size in the paint. Clips falling apart. Wolves injured. Suns ****. Warriors same. Kings meh. I guess the Pelicans and the Mavericks could pose a challenge? I would say Lakers, but we all know the Nugs own them so...

We'll see how they do against Phoenix and Minnesota in these next few games.

Minnesota will be a problem even without Towns. Not that I'm worried about Gobert, but their guards can slow the Nuggets' guards down.

Phoenix and Dallas can score as well as Denver, and all of the top 7 teams have beaten the Nuggets at least once, so they are not going to go away easily.

Still not convinced anything will be easy for them. It's going to be a tough road.

[Oscar9992]

I believe Mavs can go 6'th over Suns & Kings give Mavs have relatively 'weaker' schedule.

They can even go as far as 4'th or 5'th.

[Sactowndog]

I believe Mavs can go 6'th over Suns & Kings give Mavs have relatively 'weaker' schedule.

They can even go as far as 4'th or 5'th.

A lot depends on the next two games.

[Ambrose]

Give me:
1) Denver
2) OKC
3) Minnesota
4) New Orleans
5) Dallas
6) Sacramento

With LAC/PHX/LAL/GS play-in. That would be such a fun play-in and 1st round.

[codydaze]

Kings loosing to Wizards and Bulls really stinks for them. They could have been tied for 4th right now.

Yeah we've had bad losses to Detroit, Portland and Charlotte too. Not to mention getting completely obliterated four times by your Pelicans this year. Average point differential over those four games was -21

[Mr B]

1.OKC 48-20
2.DEN 48-21
3.MIN 47-22
4.LAC 43-25
5.NOP 42-26
6.SAC 40-28
--
7.DAL 40-29
8.PHO 40-29
9.LAL 37-32
10.GSW 36-32
--
11.HOU 33-35


Toughest schedules remaining (tankathon) as of MARCH 21
2 PHX, 4 SAC, 5 OKC, 6 NOLA, 11 LAC, 13 HOU, 17 MIN, 19 GSW, 20 LAL, 25 DAL, 29 DEN

DEN as the 1 seed seems likely to me, with its 29th easiest schedule remaining vs 5th for OKC... Thunder have a lot of matchups vs WC teams left and some clean up on EC yet to be played (MIL x2 IND BOS PHL). BOS and MIL play OKC...but both teams may be resting for POs if seeding is secured, skewing the schedule difficulty a bit for me. DEN has a clear path to win vs lesser teams in the final weeks.

NOLA SAC and LAC have pretty hard schedules too. The best team to predict a scramble up the table is Dallas @ 5th easiest schedule remaining by record and could clean up to overtake Sacramento - DAL and SAC play 2 times more this season, those are huge games.

PHX has a brutal end of the year with games vs OKC MIN MIN DEN LAC LAC NOLA NOLA and CLE still to come. They play Atlanta tonight and need to win this game badly.

Connecting points - IND CLE PHL ORL play WC teams fighting for position. All 4 are fighting for EC position as well.
IND - OKC, LAC, LAL x2, GSW
CLE - DEN, MIN, LAC, PHX, LAL
PHL - OKC, LAC x2, SAC, LAL
ORL - LAC, NOLA x2, SAC, GSW

Yeah, for Sac, we play Dallas twice and Phoenix once who are competing directly with us for the 6 spot. If we go 3-0 in those games we pretty much lock up that 6 spot but after tonight's game in Washington, the remaining schedule consists pretty much entirely of playoff caliber teams.

Looking at the remaining schedule for the Mavs if they beat Sac in both those games coming up they likely solidify themselves as the 6th seed. Those two games are HUGE for both teams.

[Bob8]

Suns SOS in last 10 games is incredible 0.647. Kings 3rd strongest have much more normal 0.558.

[codydaze]

1.OKC 48-20
2.DEN 48-21
3.MIN 47-22
4.LAC 43-25
5.NOP 42-26
6.SAC 40-28
--
7.DAL 40-29
8.PHO 40-29
9.LAL 37-32
10.GSW 36-32
--
11.HOU 33-35


Toughest schedules remaining (tankathon) as of MARCH 21
2 PHX, 4 SAC, 5 OKC, 6 NOLA, 11 LAC, 13 HOU, 17 MIN, 19 GSW, 20 LAL, 25 DAL, 29 DEN

DEN as the 1 seed seems likely to me, with its 29th easiest schedule remaining vs 5th for OKC... Thunder have a lot of matchups vs WC teams left and some clean up on EC yet to be played (MIL x2 IND BOS PHL). BOS and MIL play OKC...but both teams may be resting for POs if seeding is secured, skewing the schedule difficulty a bit for me. DEN has a clear path to win vs lesser teams in the final weeks.

NOLA SAC and LAC have pretty hard schedules too. The best team to predict a scramble up the table is Dallas @ 5th easiest schedule remaining by record and could clean up to overtake Sacramento - DAL and SAC play 2 times more this season, those are huge games.

PHX has a brutal end of the year with games vs OKC MIN MIN DEN LAC LAC NOLA NOLA and CLE still to come. They play Atlanta tonight and need to win this game badly.

Connecting points - IND CLE PHL ORL play WC teams fighting for position. All 4 are fighting for EC position as well.
IND - OKC, LAC, LAL x2, GSW
CLE - DEN, MIN, LAC, PHX, LAL
PHL - OKC, LAC x2, SAC, LAL
ORL - LAC, NOLA x2, SAC, GSW

Yeah, for Sac, we play Dallas twice and Phoenix once who are competing directly with us for the 6 spot. If we go 3-0 in those games we pretty much lock up that 6 spot but after tonight's game in Washington, the remaining schedule consists pretty much entirely of playoff caliber teams.

Looking at the remaining schedule for the Mavs if they beat Sac in both those games coming up they likely solidify themselves as the 6th seed. Those two games are HUGE for both teams.

Yeah, these two games are definitely huge. I think if either team sweeps then they'll finish above the other but I do think if they split that the Kings are still in a better position due to owning the tiebreaker. Dallas remaining schedule is definitely softer but Sac is playing well right now so they'd just need to stay even with you guys for the last 9 games.

[Bob8]

Yeah, for Sac, we play Dallas twice and Phoenix once who are competing directly with us for the 6 spot. If we go 3-0 in those games we pretty much lock up that 6 spot but after tonight's game in Washington, the remaining schedule consists pretty much entirely of playoff caliber teams.

Looking at the remaining schedule for the Mavs if they beat Sac in both those games coming up they likely solidify themselves as the 6th seed. Those two games are HUGE for both teams.

Yeah, these two games are definitely huge. I think if either team sweeps then they'll finish above the other but I do think if they split that the Kings are still in a better position due to owning the tiebreaker. Dallas remaining schedule is definitely softer but Sac is playing well right now so they'd just need to stay even with you guys for the last 9 games.

Considering that both are away games for Mavs, they should be satisfied with 1 win and then finish strong. Very doubtful that all Kings, Clippers and Pelicans will finish strong. Suns look in pretty deep **** anyway.

[Deivork]

Monday night:

Denver (51-21) beat the Grizz at home and they're now two wins ahead of OKC (49-21) for the 1st seed.

Clippers (44-27) are a mess and lost their second consecutive home game against the Pacers. They fall to the 5th seed and the Pelicans (44-27) are now 4th because they own their tie-break.

Sacramento (42-29) beat Philly at home, they own the tie-break with Dallas for now so they climb to 6th.

Dallas (42-29) beat the Jazz in Salt Lake City, they are in a 4-game winning streak and climb to 7th.

Suns (41-29) incredibly lost to the Wemby-less Spurs in San Antonio and fall to the 8th seed. What is up with this team? As mentioned, their next 10 games are nuts. Lakers will overtake them imo.

Rockets (36-35) won and are now just one game behind the 10-seed Warriors (36-34) in the loss column.

[MarcusBrody]

Monday night:

Denver (51-21) beat the Grizz at home and they're now two wins ahead of OKC (49-21) for the 1st seed.

Clippers (44-27) are a mess and lost their second consecutive home game against the Pacers. They fall to the 5th seed and the Pelicans (44-27) are now 4th because they own their tie-break.

Sacramento (42-29) beat Philly at home, they own the tie-break with Dallas for now so they climb to 6th.

Dallas (42-29) beat the Jazz in Salt Lake City, they are in a 4-game winning streak and climb to 7th.

Suns (41-29) incredibly lost to the Wemby-less Spurs in San Antonio and fall to the 8th seed. What is up with this team? As mentioned, their next 10 games are nuts. Lakers will overtake them imo.

Rockets (36-35) won and are now just one game behind the 10-seed Warriors (36-34) in the loss column.

I'm on record as loving the Play In and this thread is one more example of why. Without it, we'd have one interesting battle (whether the Lakers can come from 2.5 games back on the Suns to overtake them. Normally that wouldn't even be that interesting, but with the Suns play/schedule, it could get lively. I don't think bottom half/top half seeding battles are usually that interesting. Teams care much more about going into the playoffs healthy.

With the play in, you have that same battle with a bit less intensity (but being 8th for the playin does matter vs being ninth), plus the Kings/Mavericks (and technically Suns) fighting to avoid the play in, and the surging young Rockets trying to overtake the Warriors and make their first postseason at the expense of the creaking dynasty. Even the Clippers falling into the play in is possible (though I think unlikely) as 3 of their final 4 games will be against the rival Suns (2x) and Rockets.

That makes for fun viewing from a fans perspective and I argue it actually makes the regular season more important rather than less as more teams have a reason to fight until the end rather than just the couple right at the old playoff cut line.

[mademan]

Mavs take a game lead on the Kings for 6 but with the Pel's losing, the Kings are still within 2 games of 5

[Mrakar]

Pels have Bucks, Celtics and Suns next 3 and all that without Ingram. League is not only open from 6th spot, its open from 4-10.

[GeorgeSears]

Pels have Bucks, Celtics and Suns next 3 and all that without Ingram. League is not only open from 6th spot, its open from 4-10.

Honestly, I'll be shocked if the Pelicans drop below 6. Their schedule looks a little hairy, but I see them holding on.

[Deivork]

Suns remaining schedule is brutal.
They'd be lucky to go 5-5 given how they have been playing.

How do you copy and paste images like this?

[Deivork]

https://www.nba.com/news/2024-nba-playoffs-standings-and-bracket-updates

Tuesday 26/3 update:

· Thunder (50-21) remain at No. 2 after a close win vs. Pelicans, pulling within a half-game of No. 1 Denver (51-21)) and moving one game up on No. 3 Minnesota (49-22). Shai's dealing with some quad discomfort.

· Pelicans (44-28) drop to No. 5 again after loss to Thunder. New Orleans trails No. 4 Clippers (44-27) by a half-game and remains one game up on No. 6 Mavericks. Tough schedule ahead for them.

· Mavericks (43-29) leapfrog to No. 6 after an impressive win by 36 against the Kings. They seem motivated and are defending well. Have won 5 in a row and 9 of their last 10. Dallas leads No. 7 Sacramento and No. 8 Phoenix by one game (both at 42-30)

· Kings drop to No. 7 and into Play-In after loss to Mavericks. Sactown sits one game back of Dallas and owns tiebreaker over Suns

· Lakers (40-32) remain No. 9 after defeating Bucks. Impressive 17-point 4Q 2OT sans LeBron comeback in Milwaukee. L.A. climbs within two games of No. 7 Kings and No. 8 Suns and maintains a 2.5-game lead over No. 10 Warriors

· Warriors (37-34) stay at No. 10 after a nice win vs. Heat, moving one game ahead of No. 11 Houston while remaining 2.5 games back of No. 9 Lakers

[art_tatum]

Houston passes warriors for the play in.
Even more hilarious would be if lakers fall out to warriors( have a game against them ) and rockets.

[Deivork]

I feel like the Lakers will now take over that 8 seed...