NBA Standings 2016: Updated Playoff Picture, Bracket Heading into Final Games
Monday is a rare day of rest for the NBA. There isn't a single game on the docket, allowing every team a chance to regroup before the final stretch of the 2015-16 regular season, which concludes on Wednesday, April 13.
In the Western Conference, nine teams are eligible for the playoffs, with four having clinched a berth. The Eastern Conference has 10 teams still eligible for contention, but six are guaranteed a spot. Even though most playoff spots are wrapped up, there is still plenty of time to shake up the postseason pecking order, plus a few other storylines demanding attention as the regular season winds down.
ESPN.com is keeping track of the first-round playoff matchups, lottery teams and bracket as the season comes to a close. The league standings as of Monday, April 4, are in the table below.
| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | L10 |
| 1d | Cleveland Cavaliers | 55 | 22 | .714 | - | 7-3 |
| 2d | Toronto Raptors | 51 | 25 | .671 | 3.5 | 6-4 |
| 3b | Atlanta Hawks | 45 | 32 | .584 | 10 | 7-3 |
| 4b | Boston Celtics | 45 | 32 | .584 | 10 | 6-4 |
| 5b | Miami Heat | 44 | 32 | .579 | 10.5 | 6-4 |
| 6b | Charlotte Hornets | 44 | 32 | .579 | 10.5 | 7-3 |
| 7 | Indiana Pacers | 41 | 36 | .532 | 14 | 5-5 |
| 8 | Detroit Pistons | 41 | 36 | .532 | 14 | 7-3 |
| Chicago Bulls | 39 | 38 | .506 | 16 | 5-5 | |
| Washington Wizards | 37 | 40 | .481 | 18 | 5-5 | |
| e | Orlando Magic | 33 | 44 | .429 | 22 | 4-6 |
| e | Milwaukee Bucks | 32 | 45 | .416 | 23 | 3-7 |
| e | New York Knicks | 31 | 47 | .397 | 24.5 | 3-7 |
| e | Brooklyn Nets | 21 | 56 | .273 | 34 | 2-8 |
| e | Philadelphia 76ers | 9 | 68 | .117 | 46 | 0-10 |
| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | L10 |
| 1d | Golden State Warriors | 69 | 8 | .896 | - | 8-2 |
| 2d | San Antonio Spurs | 64 | 12 | .842 | 4.5 | 8-2 |
| 3d | Oklahoma City Thunder | 53 | 24 | .688 | 16 | 8-2 |
| 4b | Los Angeles Clippers | 48 | 28 | .632 | 20.5 | 6-4 |
| 5 | Memphis Grizzlies | 41 | 36 | .532 | 28 | 2-8 |
| 6 | Portland Trail Blazers | 41 | 37 | .526 | 28.5 | 6-4 |
| 7 | Dallas Mavericks | 39 | 38 | .506 | 30 | 5-5 |
| 8 | Utah Jazz | 39 | 38 | .506 | 30 | 7-3 |
| Houston Rockets | 38 | 39 | .494 | 31 | 4-6 | |
| e | Denver Nuggets | 32 | 46 | .410 | 37.5 | 4-6 |
| e | Sacramento Kings | 31 | 46 | .403 | 38 | 5-5 |
| e | New Orleans Pelicans | 29 | 47 | .382 | 39.5 | 5-5 |
| e | Minnesota Timberwolves | 25 | 52 | .325 | 44 | 4-6 |
| e | Phoenix Suns | 20 | 57 | .260 | 49 | 2-8 |
| e | Los Angeles Lakers | 16 | 60 | .211 | 52.5 | 2-8 |
End-of-Season Storylines
Playoff Battles
The Washington Wizards are not yet mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but as of Monday they are four games behind Indiana and Detroit, which currently own the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively.
Three losses on their recent five-game road trip doomed the Wizards' playoff hopes.
“We wish we could’ve gone 4-1 or 3-2 at that,” Wizards guard Bradley Beal said, per the Washington Post's Jorge Castillo. “We got a lot of things to improve on. Hopefully we get all five of these. It’s definitely disappointing. We wanted to get more than what we got coming out here. We got to put this behind us and move on.”
At the very least, Washington can still play something of a spoiler role if it beats Detroit on Friday. The Pistons are clinging to the eighth seed, with the Chicago Bulls just two games behind and facing a favorable schedule to close out the season.
Detroit does own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Chicago thanks to a 94-90 win on Saturday, so the Bulls might have a better chance of chasing down the Indiana Pacers (Chicago is 3-1 against Indiana this season). Jimmy Butler is playing some excellent basketball of late, averaging 20.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over his last five contests.
His triple-double against the Pistons wasn't enough to deliver his team a win, but it bodes well for his team with very winnable games against Memphis, Miami and Philadelphia on the docket.
As for the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets are a game behind both the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz, who are tied for the No. 7 seed. The Portland Trail Blazers and free-falling Memphis Grizzlies have yet to clinch, but don't appear to be in any real danger of missing out on the postseason.
Behind 41 points from James Harden, the Rockets' staged a brilliant fourth-quarter comeback and beat Oklahoma City on Sunday, 118-110. The win essentially salvaged Houston's playoff hopes, and Wednesday's matchup against Dallas is a must-win in the eyes of NBA.com's Fran Blinebury:
"Even more, they have to win the next one on Wednesday night in Dallas. They trail the Mavericks by a game in the standings and a win would not only eliminate that gap, but also give Houston the tie-breaker advantage in a scenario that looks like it will go down to the very end.
From there the Rockets are supposed to be done with the heavy lifting since the close-out portion of the schedule will serve up a plate of cupcakes in the Suns, Lakers, Timberwolves and Kings. So which one — or two — might get stuck in their throats?
"
A playoff appearance would be pretty remarkable for Houston considering the team's wildly inconsistent play this season and reports of a rift between Harden and the team's other big star, Dwight Howard, asreported by the Houston Chronicle's Brian T. Smith.
However, snagging the seventh or eighth seed likely means a quick playoff exit playing either Golden State or San Antonio, so it probably won't do too much to repair this dysfunctional squad.
Kobe Bryant's Farewell
Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players to ever handle a basketball, and his time in the NBA is nearly up. There are only six games left on the Lakers schedule, two of them at home.
While it's been a trying season for the Lakers for many reasons, there is a chance Bryant can at least for the moment drown out the negativity with strong performances down the stretch.
The 37-year old turned in a vintage effort in a home loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, right down to the huge number of shots he put up. Bryant scored a game-high 34 points on 11-of-28 shooting, including this three-pointer from turn-back-the-clock range, per Bleacher Report:
Although the Lakers were unable to deliver Bryant a win in his final game against the rival Celtics, it was still a night to remember for the five-time NBA champion.
“It's weird, last time facing that green,” Bryant said, per the Los Angeles Times' Mike Bresnahan. “It's been a joy to be able to go against them, to be part of a rivalry that I watched for so long."
Considering the Lakers' generally hapless play this year, there's a decent chance the remainder of Bryant's farewell tour will be a bittersweet affair, tinged by the sting of more losses.
| Tuesday, April 5 | at Los Angeles Clippers | LAC 2-0 LAL |
| Wednesday, April 6 | vs. Los Angeles Clippers | LAC 2-0 LAL |
| Friday, April 8 | at New Orleans Pelicans | LAL 2-0 NO |
| Sunday, April 10 | at Houston Rockets | HOU 3-0 LAL |
| Monday, April 11 | at Oklahoma City Thunder | OKC 3-0 LAL |
| Wednesday, April 13 | vs Utah Jazz | UT 3-0 LAL |
Of those games, the away trip to New Orleans and the last game of the season hosting Utah appear to be Bryant's best opportunities to collect at least one more win in his brilliant career.
Golden State's Bid for 73 (or 74) Wins
Golden State needs to go 4-1 over its final five games to get to 73 wins and beat out the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls for the greatest regular-season record in NBA history. Following a stunning 109-106 loss to Boston on Friday that snapped the Warriors' home win streak at 54 games, Stephen Curry and Company got back to their dominant ways with a 136-111 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Curry scored a game-high 39 points and was of course the man to hit the team's milestone 1,000th three-pointer of the season, per Bleacher Report:
Even though Golden State has a fair chance at getting to 73 wins, Hall of Fame forward Scottie Pippen couldn't even spot these guys a game in a hypothetical best-of-seven playoff series against his '95-96 Bulls, per ESPN:
Comparing teams from different eras is almost always a fruitless exercise, but hey, if Golden State wins 73 games, Pippen certainly won't be able to answer back.
FiveThirtyEight has been churning out win probabilities for every NBA game this season. Here's a look at the Warriors' chances of winning in each of their final five games according to the site:
| Tuesday, April 5 | vs. Minnesota Timberwolves | 96 % |
| Thursday, April 7 | vs. San Antonio Spurs | 64 % |
| Saturday, April 9 | at Memphis Grizzlies | 83% |
| Sunday, April 10 | at San Antonio | 31% |
| Wednesday, April 13 | vs Memphis Grizzlies | 94% |
The Warriors should have little problem defeating the young Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday. The injury-depleted Grizzlies are likely playoff-bound but are truly limping to the finish line and have lost six straight.
Those two games against San Antonio loom large, however, especially the Friday away contest to wrap up back-to-back nights of basketball. However, there is a chance Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will play the long game and rest his stars for playoffs.
Point guard Tony Parker seems to think this will be the case, per a translation of his comments on his French radio show via News 4 San Antonio's Jeff Garcia:
"I think no one will play (versus the Warriors). To Pop (Gregg Popovich), the most important thing is that the players are rested for the playoffs. As for first place, he does not care.
For us, the end of the regular season is a good time to rest. That's why we play hard throughout the season, trying to win the most games possible, to find ourselves in this situation of "luxury," we are sure we will be the second seed and we can all rest before the playoffs.
"
If Popovich indeed declines to trot out his best lineups, Golden State's remaining schedule actually looks somewhat toothless. Perhaps 74 wins are on the table.
There's always the possibility that some Lance Stephenson hero ball trips them up at the end of the season or the back-to-back proves too taxing to overcome, but the pursuit of a record should keep the Warriors focused and determined.
