By the time some will read this things won’t be as wild, but in the Western Conference almost anything is still possible. With the exception of the the Clippers, Lakers, Kings, Mavericks, Grizzlies, or Suns making it.
While the Pelicans, Jazz, Thunder and Spurs all earned their playoff invites Monday night, two slots are undecided and the seedings remain wide open. Look at the attached seeding chart, the possibilities are endless. Sure that’s hyperbole, math has it’s own say – but I digress.
For New Orleans fans a trip to the postseason for the first time since 2014-15 is great, but that could comes as an 8, 7, 6, 5, or 4 seed. By the time New Orleans faces San Antonio Wednesday much of the guess work will be out of it. The preferred 4 seed is only possible if Utah drops their final two against Golden State and Portland, two teams who currently sit ahead of the Jazz. A loss to the Spurs will leave the Pelicans as the 7 or 8 seed. There are a number of ways to wind up a 5 or 6 seed and they’re effectively out of the Pelicans’ control.
With two games to go, most years, the NBA looks like the East, this year’s Western Conference frenzy truly shows how tiered the league has become with a few elites and a whole lot of everyone else.