5 NBA Teams with the Most on the Line Down the Stretch of the Regular Season
The sound of that rotund woman warming up her vocal cords? That's the end of 2014-15 NBA regular season. It's hard to believe, but it's mere weeks away.
Playoff pictures are mostly in place, individual-award races are heating up and legitimate title contenders are coming into focus.
Which teams still have something to prove down the stretch? Which ones need to move up (or down) in the standings?
This slideshow breaks down the five squads with the most on the line between now and April 15, in order based on their current records.
New York Knicks
1 of 5
Every loss counts for the New York Knicks, who are two games ahead (or behind, depending on how you look at it) of their closest competition in the race for the best lottery odds.
Having the worst record in the league yields a 25 percent chance at the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft, and the dreadful Knicks (14-61) desperately need a young cornerstone to build around.
That, and a video pep talk from team president Phil Jackson, is about all that Knicks fans have to go on over the next two weeks.
ESPN New York's Ian Begley relayed Jackson's sentiments from the video:
"While I know this has been a challenging season for our team on the court, I can also tell you that everyone in the organization is working tirelessly to get our Knicks back to a place where we are once again competing at the highest level.
We have made key roster moves to free up significant cap space that will provide us greater flexibility to acquire talent in this summer's free agency. And for the first time in many years, we expect to have a top pick in the NBA Draft this June. These are key steps to building a roster of players that have both the talent and character to win in New York and who, alongside Carmelo Anthony, will become a team that can become a consistent winner.
Despite the disappointing 2014-15 season, we are steadfast in our resolve to do what is necessary to deliver on our ultimate goal of bringing a championship back to New York.
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Any wins now could hamper New York's shot at the top selection and the opportunity to handpick the player whom they will build around.
Missing out on Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns could set the rebuild back another year.
Minnesota Timberwolves
2 of 5
The closest team to the Knicks in the race to the bottom is the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that vehemently denies tanking despite a 16-59 record and a list of injured players that would run the active roster out of the gym.
During Minnesota's March 23 win over the Utah Jazz, Root Sports analysts Matt Harpring and Craig Bolerjack openly questioned whether or not the Wolves are tanking.
Minnesota played only seven guys that night and won the game. Afterward, coach Flip Saunders, well, flipped out a little, per Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune:
"That's totally irresponsible, we're not tanking games. If that's so, then [Utah] got beat by a team who was tanking. ... We're playing to win. Our guys are out there: We won two games ago at New York, we lost in the fourth quarter against Charlotte last night. We're not tanking games. It is irresponsible for them to go on TV saying that. If you work at ESPN, you get fired for saying stuff like that.
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The T-Wolves lost five straight since Saunders went all Queen of Hearts on the Jazz broadcast team, and their future fortunes are better for all the losing.
The future backcourt may already be set with Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio in place. Adding a potential star big from the 2015 draft could make the Wolves a real threat in three or four seasons.
New Orleans Pelicans
3 of 5
The New Orleans Pelicans have Anthony Davis, arguably the best player in the NBA. And yet, they're in very real danger of missing the playoffs.
As things currently stand, they're in ninth place out West, with the eighth-place Oklahoma City Thunder in their sights.
Not making it this season doesn't necessarily kill the franchise, as New Orleans will control Davis' rights should he make it to restricted free agency in 2016, but missing the postseason certainly wouldn't help the team's future prospects.
If the Pelicans want to avoid that, they have a steep climb in front of them, as noted by Bleacher Report's Dave Leonardis, "Like the Thunder, the Pelicans have five games on tap against Western Conference postseason crews, and New Orleans holds just a combined 7-13 record against those teams this year."
This young team has to turn that trend around now if they want a taste of the playoffs. And as they're only one game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder in the loss column, hope is still alive.
Even if the Pelicans went down in four or five games against the Golden State Warriors in a first-round playoff series, that postseason experience would be indispensable.
Oklahoma City Thunder
4 of 5
Further confirmation wasn't really necessary, but the news of Kevin Durant's foot surgery and subsequent four- to six-month absence officially makes this Russell Westbrook's team for the stretch run.
Westbrook has been utterly absurd in the lead dog's role, averaging 31 points, 10.6 assists and nine rebounds since the trade deadline.
Should he continue that pace, lead OKC into the playoffs and maybe even put a little scare into the Warriors in the first round, would there really be any question as to whom the alpha would be upon Durant's return? And how would that impact Durant's free agency in 2016?
The 2014 MVP may have told Revolt TV (h/t ESPN's Royce Young), "I'm one of those guys that would love to stick it out with one team my whole career," but the opportunity to take his hometown Washington Wizards from run-of-the-mill playoff team to title contender will be looming.
Dallas Mavericks
5 of 5
The Dallas Mavericks aren't really mentioned among the league's rebuilding teams, even though they seem to scrap and reassemble their roster every summer.
Josh Bowe of Mavs Moneyball broke it down:
"The Mavs have had 53 different players on their roster since 2011-2012 (a welcome hat tip to the Sturminator). FIFTY THREE. How in the world is that going to equal any sort of deep playoff success when the Warriors, Spurs and Trail Blazers are all getting better with the same core and adding tweaks year after year?
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The kind of chemistry that takes a few years to develop is critical in the NBA, and the Mavs haven't had much of a chance to develop that.
The vicious cycle could continue this summer, with Tyson Chandler and Rajon Rondo hitting unrestricted free agency and Monta Ellis having a chance to do the same with a player option on the last year of his deal.
If things keep going the way they have since the All-Star break, all three could be looking for greener pastures. Dallas is 10-10 since the break with a net rating of minus-three—that's good for 22nd in the league.
But what if the Mavs figure it out? A strong finish to the regular season? A little momentum heading into the playoffs?
These players coming together now could be the genesis of the kind of chemistry that the Mavericks haven't had since they won the title in 2011.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats and salary figures are courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com and are current through games played on April 1, 2015.
Andy Bailey covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him @AndrewDBailey.
