Tight Lower Seed Conference Playoff Race
Both conferences have some intriguing playoff races at the bottom of the conference to keep an eye on, and they are very heated races at that. There are three teams fighting for the last playoff speed in the Western Conference and five teams battling for the last two spots in the Eastern Conference.
In the West, the New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns are battling for the eighth seed.
They are all more than capable of making the postseason, but Phoenix has been struggling in a big way since they traded both Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas. Both New Orleans and Oklahoma City are the two teams to keep an eye on, with the Thunder’s chances hinging on Kevin Durant’s health and whether or not Russell Westbrook can continue the dominant basketball that he has been playing.
As for the East, the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets, Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets are fighting for the seventh and eighth seeds.
Indiana and Miami appear to be the best teams out of all of them, but the Hornets are a team to keep an eye on with Kemba Walker coming back. The Celtics and Nets have a chance to make some noise, but they just don’t have the depth to make the type of run that it would take.
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