[ad_1]
With one week to go in the NBA’s regular season, only three postseason seeds are locked in: The Phoenix Suns will have the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs, the Memphis Grizzlies will have the second and the LA Clippers are locked into eighth.
The other 17 seeds remain up for grabs to set up what should be a frenetic race to the finish once play resumes Tuesday.
The top four teams in the Eastern Conference — the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers — could wind up finishing in almost any order. And while the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls are in a fairly straightforward battle for fifth, the East’s race for the four play-in tournament spots offers just as many possibilities as the fight for No. 1.
Out West, the Golden State Warriors head into the final week one game up on the Dallas Mavericks for third, with Dallas holding the tiebreaker thanks to winning the season series between the two. The battle for fifth through seventh, meanwhile, is between a trio of Northwest Division teams — the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves — with Utah holding the tiebreaker over both teams thanks to winning both season series.
The New Orleans Pelicans and the San Antonio Spurs are the favorites to snag the final two play-in tournament spots after the Los Angeles Lakers lost twice this weekend to all but doom themselves to the lottery.
For now, one of the few certainties is this: The final week of the season is full of massive stakes up and down the standings.
— Tim Bontemps
Note: Throughout the regular season, our panel (Bontemps, Jamal Collier, Nick Friedell, Andrew Lopez, Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin and Ohm Youngmisuk) is ranking all 30 teams from top to bottom, taking stock of which teams are playing the best basketball now and which teams are looking most like title contenders.
1. Phoenix Suns
2021-22 record: 62-16
Previous ranking: 1
The Suns can afford to rest some of their starters, which is what they did Sunday,…
[ad_2]
Source : espn
