NBA Playoff Bracket 2012: Breaking Down Playoff Picture in Each Conference

With just two days remaining in the NBA regular season, we now know every team that will be headed into the postseason when the playoffs begin on Saturday.

While we know exactly who will be there, what we don’t know is who exactly everyone will be playing yet, as there’s still a lot left to be determined.

Here’s a look at the playoff brackets and what can still happen before the postseason begins this weekend.

Eastern Conference

The Chicago Bulls have wrapped up the No. 1 seed, and the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers are locked in as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds respectively, but who each team will face in the first round is still up for grabs.

The Orlando Magic currently hold the No. 6 seed, which is good news for the Pacers, but they must win one of their final two games (vs. Charlotte, at Memphis) to lock into that spot. If they find a way to lose both, and the New York Knicks win their final two (vs. Los Angeles Clippers, at Charlotte), the Knicks jump up to the No. 6 spot and create a very good 3-6 matchup with Indiana.

While the Knicks could jump as high as No. 6, they could also drop as low as No. 8. Currently they are tied with the Philadelphia 76ers and hold the tiebreaker for the No. 7 seed, but if they lose one of their next two and the Sixers win out (at Milwaukee, at Detroit), then Philadelphia becomes the No. 7 seed and the Knicks drop to No. 8.

Western Conference

The Western Conference is also set at the top with the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers locked in as the top three seeds.

The 4-5 matchup is also set between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies, but who has home-court advantage is still up in the air. Memphis hosts a banged-up Orlando team, while the Clippers must travel to Madison Square Garden, so it’s quite possible that the Grizzlies could steal the No. 4 seed away.

Utah claimed the No. 8 seed with a win over Phoenix Tuesday night, and the only thing left to decide out west will be who will be the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds between Denver and Dallas, who are currently separated by half a game.

Denver must travel to both Oklahoma City and Minnesota to close out the season, while Dallas finishes up Thursday at Atlanta.