As the NBA takes goes on hiatus for one night in honor of the NCAA championship game, it’s a good time to take a deep breath and look at the Western Conference playoff picture. Henry Abbott of TrueHoop wrote an excellent post on the topic.
The conference’s top three teams, after all the tie-breakers, are the Lakers, Mavericks and Nuggets, and they’re doing their best to keep things interesting. Over their last 10 games, they have combined to create a tepid 16-14 record. (And even the Lakers, who are a cinch for first in the West with 22 losses, are still fighting for homecourt advantage in the Finals against Orlando, which has 23 losses. Every team is still trying.)
Meanwhile the five lower-seeded Western playoff teams — the Jazz, Suns, Thunder, Spurs and Blazers — have combined to create a 38-12 record over their last 10 games. And five of those 12 losses came from within that group of five.
The point being: If momentum matters, there’s a lot it in the West’s seeds four through eight, who are bunched up very tightly behind the teams ahead of them.
Here’s a look ahead at the schedule in the West for the next week:
Tuesday: OKC @ UTA
Wednesday: DEN @ OKC, SA @ PHX
Thursday: LAL @ DEN
Friday: PHX @ OKC, DAL @ POR
Saturday: SA @ DEN
Sunday: POR @ LAL
Monday: OKC @ POR
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