TWith every team in the NBA playing around half of their scheduled 66 games for this lockout-shortened regular season, it is appropriate, given the turning of the page that is this weekend’s All-Star break, to look towards each conference’s respective postseason hierarchy. What we could be seeing in the East and West standings right now are two sides with entirely different agendas and underlying factors that will determine who ends up where and why.
In the Western Conference, seeds one through eight might as well all be equal. Qualifying as one of the eight best teams in this conference means you’ve survived long enough to make it through to the next level, regardless of what the team Life Meter is at. If you wanted, you could say that 13 of the 15 teams in the West still have playoff aspirations; the Suns and Warriors are both 4.5 games out of the eighth spot, but yes, that’s being generous.
Still, does it really matter to the Mavericks or Spurs or Lakers if they’re the third or seventh seed, so long as they’re in the door? So long as they’ve made it that far in as close to one piece as they can manage? For proven veteran teams like those above, a chance is all they need; on the other side however, every team with a spot right now cannot afford to take too many nights off, as teams like the slumping yet formidable Trail Blazers and rising Timberwolves nip at the heels of the eight seed Nuggets. Out West, the seedings matter only in that you’ve got one next to your name. If nothing else in this constantly grinding season, it’s a badge of honor.
The Eastern Conference standings paint a different picture. The Boston Celtics, losers of four in a row, sit in the eight spot, a game-and-a-half above the Cleveland Cavaliers, who just won’t stop circling the bottom of the bracket. Bad as the Celtics can look, it would be stunning to see them leapfrogged in the end by either the Cavs or Milwaukee Bucks, who can’t stay out of their own way long enough to feign dangerousness for any believable stretch of time. And unless you believe the Pistons or Nets have a run in them (you likely don’t), or that the Knicks won’t be able to stay charting upwards with Jeremy Lin and a lot of talent around him, the East is pretty much set in terms of who’ll be playing playoff basketball.
But, unlike the West, seedings one through eight very much matter here because of the two soul-crushers perched atop the heap. Injuries — like Derrick Rose’s nagging back — can always factor in, but as of now if one can avoid a first-round pairing with the Bulls, and with the way they’re cannonballing everyone right now maybe more essentially, the Heat, one should look to do so. This means we could see an interesting exercise in ladder-climbing as the regular season heads toward its end; one in which teams could try neatly dropping themselves into the match-up they like best (the 3 through 6 seeds are only separated by 1.5 games), with prospective opponents making counter-moves of their own and the sixth seed hovering above it all, providing possible shelter from the storm.
In the East the qualifiers might be falling into place, but the standings will remain essential as each team attempts to determine its fate by stepping around one another. While out in the West a spot among the top eight, wherever it lands, will do just fine. Depending on the scenario, ‘getting there’ can mean a specific destination or the basic journey itself.
Griffin Gotta contributes to The Hoop Doctors and is a co-managing editor of Straight Outta Vancouver. The story arcs and infinite weirdness of the NBA are addictions he deals with every day. Email him at griffingotta at gmail dot com.
