NBA Playoff Picture 2016: Predicting Final Bracket Entering Season's Final Week
Postseason basketball is coming.
Some of the top seeds in both conferences are on cruise control. Health and rest take precedence over wins—because they can.
Others aren’t so lucky.
The Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls are still scrapping it out for the eighth seed in the East while the No. 7 and No. 8 spots are both up for grabs out in the West.
Who’s going to be left standing once the dust settles? Let's look at the teams that have yet to clinch.
Bracket
| Cleveland Cavaliers (1) vs. Indiana Pacers (8) | Cavs, 3-1 |
| Toronto Raptors (2) vs. Detroit Pistons (7) | Raptors, 2-1 |
| Atlanta Hawks (3) vs. Charlotte Hornets (6) | Hawks, 3-1 |
| Boston Celtics (4) vs. Miami Heat (5) | Celtics, 2-0 |
| Golden State Warriors (1) vs. Utah Jazz (8) | Dubs, 4-0 |
| San Antonio Spurs (2) vs. Dallas Mavericks (7) | Spurs,3-0 |
| Oklahoma City Thunder (3) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (6) | OKC, 2-1 |
| Los Angeles Clippers (4) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (5) | Clippers, 3-1 |
This is what the bracket currently looks like. It's not final. Keep tabs on the playoff picture at NBA.com.
East
No. 8: Indiana Pacers
Both the Pacers and Bulls have cupcake schedules to close the year.
After hosting the 21-58 Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, Indy gets the 32-48 New York Knicks at home and then hits the road against the 32-47 Milwaukee Bucks.
It doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
Actually, yeah. For the Bulls, it does.
Having beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, 105-102, the Bulls are now set to battle the New Orleans Pelicans on the road this Monday before hosting the mighty 10-69 Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
Despite these pillow-fight opponents, squeaking past Indiana will be harder than body-slamming Big Show.
The Pacers are 2.5 games up on the Bulls, so that means the former has to lose out with the latter winning out.
Those chances are slim.
Microscopic, even. NumberFire is giving Chi-town a 0.7-percent chance of making the postseason.
Plus, the Bulls have made a habit of beating good teams and losing to bad ones all year, as John Schuhmann of NBA.com pointed out:
Head coach Fred Hoiberg thinks there’s a chance, but few others do.
West
No. 7: Dallas Mavericks
Dirk Nowitzki and Co. are two games up on the Utah Jazz and three up on the Houston Rockets.
The Mavericks have three contests to go, and they’re sitting comfortably at No. 7—which, you know, would not force them to play a series against the Golden State Warriors.
That’s the good news.
Here’s the bad: Dallas’ remaining three games are against the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and Clippers head coach Doc Rivers could rest their big guns, but that’s no guarantee. Utah will be coming for blood on Monday before traveling to Staples Center to face the Los Angeles Lakers in what will be Kobe Bryant’s last game.
With a few lucky bounces, the Jazz could definitely unseat Dallas and slide into seventh place.
But expect Dallas, if nothing else, to defeat the young squad and win the season series, 2-1, to solidify its position.
No. 8: Utah Jazz
…And then expect the Jazz to finish eighth, because the Houston Rockets are a mess.
A year after an improbable trip to the Western Conference Finals, James Harden’s team is hanging on for dear life. Houston is just one game back of Utah for the No. 8 seed, which doesn’t make things impossible.
Plus, with an easy schedule—Lakers (home), Minnesota Timberwolves (away), Sacramento Kings (home)—the Rockets are capable of pulling some more late-season heroics.
CBS Sports’ Matt Moore points out that the Rockets can put the pressure on the Jazz by winning out:
But how likely is that? Based on a stat passed along by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, not very:
Marc Stein and Calvin Watkins’ ESPN report that general manager Daryl Morey and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff are “under the microscope” doesn’t exude confidence in the front office.
Neither do point guard Patrick Beverley’s curt postgame responses after losing to the Phoenix Suns, 124-115, on Thursday:
It doesn’t even seem like the Rockets expect themselves to make the playoffs. Why should anyone else?
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