NBA Playoff Picture 2016: Standings, Bracket and Key Storylines Down the Stretch

Some NBA fans may have seen this season as boring, with the 69-9 Golden State Warriors and 65-12 San Antonio Spurs playing at a level so far above the rest of the league to this point.

If you look a bit further down the standings, though, there are some intense seeding battles going on. Though the teams in that area of the playoff brackets are unlikely to win a championship, we can definitely look forward to several fun playoff series involving the up-and-coming squads and fantasize about how much better they can be next season.

So let's take stock of the four biggest NBA storylines with one week remaining in the regular season, both regarding playoff seeding and otherwise.

Speaking of said seeding, you can catch the latest playoff bracket information and first-round matchups at ESPN.com. The standings updated through all April 5 games are shown below.

Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Seed	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	L10
1y	Cleveland Cavaliers	56	24	.700	-	6-4
2y	Toronto Raptors	54	26	.675	2	6-4
3x	Atlanta Hawks	48	32	.600	8	7-3
4x	Boston Celtics	47	33	.587	9	7-3
5x	Miami Heat	47	33	.587	9	6-4
6x	Charlotte Hornets	46	34	.575	10	6-4
7x	Indiana Pacers	43	37	.538	13	6-4
8x	Detroit Pistons	43	37	.538	13	7-3
e	Chicago Bulls	40	40	.500	16	4-6
e	Washington Wizards	39	41	.488	17	4-6
e	Orlando Magic	34	46	.425	22	5-5
e	Milwaukee Bucks	33	47	.412	23	3-7
e	New York Knicks	32	48	.395	24.5	4-6
e	Brooklyn Nets	21	59	.262	35	2-8
e	Philadelphia 76ers	10	70	.125	46	1-9
Seed	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	L10
1y	Golden State Warriors	72	9	.889	-	8-2
2y	San Antonio Spurs	65	15	.813	6.5	6-4
3y	Oklahoma City Thunder	54	26	.675	17.5	6-4
4x	Los Angeles Clippers	52	28	.650	19.5	9-1
5x	Portland Trail Blazers	43	38	.531	29	7-3
6x	Memphis Grizzlies	42	38	.525	29.5	2-8
7	Dallas Mavericks	41	39	.512	30.5	6-4
8	Utah Jazz	40	40	.500	31.5	6-4
	Houston Rockets	39	41	.488	32.5	4-6
e	Denver Nuggets	33	48	.407	39	4-6
e	Sacramento Kings	32	48	.400	39.5	5-5
e	New Orleans Pelicans	30	50	.375	41.5	4-6
e	Minnesota Timberwolves	28	52	.350	43.5	6-4
e	Phoenix Suns	22	58	.275	49.5	3-7
e	Los Angeles Lakers	16	64	.200	55.5	1-9

Key Storylines

The Muddled Eastern Conference Bracket

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

The upper portion of the Eastern Conference has clearly separated itself into three tiers this season. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors are the conference's elite, the middle playoff squads are the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets and the fringe postseason contenders include the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards.

If you're looking for clarity within those tiers, though, good luck.

Sure, Cleveland should edge out Toronto for the No. 1 seed, but everything else is a mess. Seeds three through six are separated by 1.5 games, and seeds seven through 10 possess a gap of four games. 

Atlanta would be the clear favorite for the No. 3 seed, considering it currently possesses it, except all four of its closing games come against teams in playoff contention. Boston can say the same about just three of its last five games, as can Miami, but Charlotte could actually swoop in to pass everybody by playing just one of its final five contests against teams in playoff contention.

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press/Associated Press

Looking further down in the bracket, the Bulls did move the conference one step closer to finalizing the No. 7 and 8 seeds by losing to the Memphis Grizzlies, 108-92, on Tuesday night. Indiana and Detroit are both now at least two games ahead of ninth-seeded Chicago, though the teams' own positions relative to each other remain very much in doubt. The 10th-seeded Wizards are a serious long shot for the postseason.

Of course, the tiebreakers between all the squads will make things interesting. It's too soon to dive into all of those for the teams yet, as the possibilities are too many, but remember that head-to-head record takes first priority there. If that doesn't separate the teams, a division winner would be prioritized and the next place to look would be the team's record within its division.

However these races shake out in the East, we're going to get some awesome first-round playoff series, especially in the middle portion of the bracket.

The Race for the West's No. 5 Seed

The standings aren't quite as congested in the West. Seeds one through four are all but decided, and six of the seven current lottery teams are eliminated.

However, there's a definite scrum of teams in contention for the No. 5 seed. 

As of April 6, the spot belongs to the Memphis Grizzlies, who haven't played well recently (six losses in their last seven games) but are doing the best they can to stay alive with an injury-ravaged roster. Memphis probably won't keep its spot, though, considering it plays the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and Warriors twice to end the season.

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

The Portland Trail Blazers may actually be the favorite here. Of their three remaining games, the Blazers play three at home and two against teams out of contention. The squad on their schedule that is in contention is the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have their No. 3 seed clinched and can't move up.

The Mavericks, Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets are a tick below at seeds seven through nine, but all are technically still in reach of the No. 5 spot. Considering the amount of head-to-head games remaining between teams in this tier, there could be significant movement before next Wednesday.

Kobe Bryant Says Goodbye

Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant may have decided against playing this season if he knew what was going to happen. Between his dreadful individual play, the Lakers' 16-61 record and all the intrasquad drama that has taken place, it would be nice if we could just forget this season happened for Kobe.

But alas, there are five games left for Black Mamba's Lakers, so let's try and enjoy whatever he has left to offer his fans and the followers of the league in general.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

We enjoyed his 34 points against the Celtics on Sunday, even though it came in a losing effort. He's also had three other outings this season with 31, 31 and 38 points, so it's obvious he still can fill it up on occasion. Waiting for those occasions to happen is the difficult part, thanks to his laborious shot selection.

The Clippers, Rockets, Thunder and Jazz remain on the Lakers' schedule. Maybe 37-year-old Kobe can give us one final great performance against a playoff contender to remember him by.

The Warriors—and Spurs—Chase History

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press/Associated Press

The Warriors did themselves no favors Tuesday night by falling to the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves, 124-117, in overtime on their home floor. After winning 54 consecutive regular-season games on its home floor, Golden State has now lost two of its last three contests at Oracle Arena.

Now the Warriors have to go undefeated over their final four contests to set a new single-season wins record of 73. Despite some recent slip-ups and a closing schedule featuring two more dates each with the Grizzlies and Spurs, don't count them out.

Weirdly enough, though, Golden State doesn't even have the No. 1 seed locked up yet because of the aforementioned juggernaut having a similarly historic season in southern Texas.

Darren Abate/Associated Press

The Spurs are just 3.5 games back of the Warriors with half of their head-to-head matchups still remaining. San Antonio has a chance to make its own history by being the only team in league history to finish a regular season undefeated at home (the Spurs are currently 39-0), but we know head coach Gregg Popovich probably couldn't care less about earning that mark.

With Golden State showing some fatigue in the last few weeks, don't be surprised if Warriors head coach Steve Kerr rests his troops more in the coming games, punting the opportunity for the all-time wins record in favor of sharpness during the postseason. San Antonio does the same nearly every regular season and should also partake in the resting festivities again over the next week.

Be sure to keep an eye on both of these teams' pursuit for history, especially since they'll face off two times in the next week and will probably meet again in the Western Conference Finals.