NBA Playoff Picture 2016: Updated Postseason Bracket, Races to Watch
Time is quickly running out on NBA teams looking to either secure a final playoff spot or jockey for a better position in standings. The 2015-16 season comes to a close on Wednesday, April 13, and most teams have just three or four games remaining.
The ninth-place Houston Rockets are still viable in the West, 1.5 games behind the Utah Jazz and 2.5 behind the Dallas Mavericks.
In the East, the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards are technically not yet eliminated from playoff contention, but the prospects are grim.
Here are the NBA standings updated through April 7. For a look at the latest postseason matchups, head over to ESPN.com.
| Seed | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | L10 |
| 1y | Cleveland Cavaliers | 56 | 23 | .709 | - | 7-3 |
| 2y | Toronto Raptors | 52 | 26 | .667 | 3.5 | 5-5 |
| 3x | Atlanta Hawks | 47 | 32 | .595 | 9 | 7-3 |
| 4x | Boston Celtics | 46 | 32 | .590 | 9.5 | 7-3 |
| 5x | Miami Heat | 46 | 32 | .590 | 9.5 | 7-3 |
| 6x | Charlotte Hornets | 45 | 33 | .577 | 10.5 | 6-4 |
| 7 | Indiana Pacers | 42 | 36 | .538 | 13.5 | 6-4 |
| 8 | Detroit Pistons | 42 | 37 | .532 | 14 | 7-3 |
| Chicago Bulls | 39 | 40 | .494 | 17 | 3-7 | |
| Washington Wizards | 38 | 40 | .487 | 17.5 | 5-5 | |
| e | Orlando Magic | 33 | 45 | .423 | 22.5 | 4-6 |
| e | Milwaukee Bucks | 32 | 46 | .410 | 23.5 | 3-7 |
| e | New York Knicks | 31 | 48 | .392 | 25 | 3-7 |
| e | Brooklyn Nets | 21 | 57 | .269 | 34.5 | 2-8 |
| e | Philadelphia 76ers | 10 | 68 | .128 | 45.5 | 1-9 |
| Seed | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | L10 |
| 1z | Golden State Warriors | 70 | 9 | .886 | - | 8-2 |
| 2y | San Antonio Spurs | 65 | 13 | .833 | 4.5 | 7-3 |
| 3y | Oklahoma City Thunder | 54 | 25 | .684 | 16 | 7-3 |
| 4x | Los Angeles Clippers | 50 | 28 | .641 | 19.5 | 7-3 |
| 5x | Memphis Grizzlies | 42 | 36 | .538 | 27.5 | 3-7 |
| 6x | Portland Trail Blazers | 43 | 37 | .538 | 27.5 | 7-3 |
| 7 | Dallas Mavericks | 40 | 38 | .513 | 29.5 | 6-4 |
| 8 | Utah Jazz | 39 | 39 | .500 | 30.5 | 6-4 |
| Houston Rockets | 38 | 41 | .481 | 32 | 3-7 | |
| e | Denver Nuggets | 32 | 47 | .405 | 38 | 4-6 |
| e | Sacramento Kings | 31 | 48 | .392 | 39 | 4-6 |
| e | New Orleans Pelicans | 29 | 49 | .372 | 40.5 | 4-6 |
| e | Minnesota Timberwolves | 27 | 52 | .342 | 43 | 5-5 |
| e | Phoenix Suns | 21 | 58 | .266 | 49 | 2-8 |
| e | Los Angeles Lakers | 16 | 62 | .205 | 53.5 | 2-8 |
According to FiveThirtyEight, the Rockets have a 15 percent chance of making the playoffs following their disheartening 124-115 home loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday. The Rockets led by as many as seven points late in the fourth quarter, but a late Suns surge doomed them.
Yahoo Sports' Eric Freeman was not impressed:
Houston closes out the season with very winnable games against the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings. James Harden and company are good enough to take all three of those contests, but then again, they should've beaten Phoenix on Thursday.
All the Jazz have to do is not flame out in the finish. A home game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday looks like trouble on paper, but Clippers head coach Doc Rivers could rest key players, per Clippers.com's Rowan Kavner:
"Rivers said after Wednesday’s game Griffin will definitely not travel, but the rest he hasn’t decided. He said it’s likely the Clippers do the same thing they did in Oklahoma City – when Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick all sat – but he has to wait to see how many healthy bodies he has if Austin Rivers and Johnson aren’t able to play.
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The Jazz then have a back-to-back playing Denver and Dallas. The latter game could be tricky, as the Mavericks are yet to clinch a playoff spot but are ahead in the standings and beat Houston 88-86 on Wednesday.
Utah then finishes up the season in Los Angeles, with the chance to beat Kobe Bryant and spoil his final NBA game. That's going to be a tricky contest against what should be an emotional Bryant and an inspired Lakers squad hoping to send off their legendary elder statesman with a win, so the Jazz will be fighting hard to secure a playoff spot before Wednesday.
As for the Eastern Conference, the Bulls may be ahead of the Wizards in the standings, but their playoff chances are slimmer.
FiveThirtyEight gives Washington a 4 percent chance of reaching the postseason, while the Bulls come in at less than 1 percent. Chicago's 106-98 loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday proved ruinous.
The Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc detailed what the Bulls need to keep hope alive:
"The defeat dropped the Bulls three games behind the Pistons for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference with three regular-season games remaining. The only team they can catch is the Pacers, who at 31/2 games ahead of the Bulls must lose their final four games while the Bulls win their final three. Thanks to three victories over the Pacers during the regular season, the Bulls hold the tiebreaker between the teams while the Pistons have it on the Bulls.
The Pacers can put the Bulls out of their misery when they face the Raptors on Friday night in Toronto. If the Pacers stumble, the Bulls' next hurdle is the conference-leading Cavaliers on Saturday night at the United Center.
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Detroit needs a home win over Washington on Friday to clinch a playoff spot, but it isn't likely to come easy. The Wizards are 3-0 against Detroit this year, with their last win a 124-81 throttling on March 14. There is a chance Wizards point guard John Wall will be out with a knee injury, but it's not like the Pistons were planning on celebrating early in any case.
“I'll have relief when the magic number is zero," said Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy, per the Detroit Free Press' Vince Ellis.
In other battles, Memphis and Portland are fighting for the No. 5 seed in the West, while Dallas still has a slim chance of moving ahead of either one of those teams and avoiding a date with San Antonio in the first round.
The Eastern Conference has a logjam at its mid-tier playoff seeds. Just a game and a half separates No. 3 Atlanta from No. 6 Charlotte. The Boston Celtics currently own the fourth seed and thus home-court advantage in the first round, but their end-of-season schedule is daunting.
It consists of the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, followed by the three teams against whom they are battling for home-court advantage: Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami.
The Celtics will be the squad to watch as they essentially sample their potential first-round opponents to close out the regular season. A couple of wins should earn them not only a No. 3 or No. 4 seed, but confidence moving forward.
