Most of the NBA’s teams have about 20 games remaining in their regular season – so about three or four weeks of action before the playoffs begin. The top ten teams in each conference all have postseason slots, with seeds seven through ten taking part in a play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds in the playoffs. We’re going to break down the standings and talk about which teams you should include in your sports betting on NBA futures for playoff positioning.
NBA News: 3 Weeks Left in the Regular Season
Eastern Conference
| Seed | Team | Record | Games Back |
| 1 | Miami Heat* | 47-24 | – |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | 44-27 | 3 |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | 43-27 | 3 ½ |
| 4 | Boston Celtics | 44-28 | 3 ½ |
| 5 | Chicago Bulls | 41-29 | 5 ½ |
| 6 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 41-30 | 6 |
| 7 | Toronto Raptors | 40-31 | 7 |
| 8 | Brooklyn Nets | 37-34 | 10 |
| 9 | Charlotte Hornets | 36-35 | 11 |
| 10 | Atlanta Hawks | 35-36 | 12 |
| 11 | Washington Wizards | 30-40 | 16 ½ |
| 12 | N.Y. Knicks | 30-41 | 17 |
(Indiana, Detroit and Orlando have already been eliminated from the postseason)
*= clinched division
Miami is keeping a cautious eye on Jimmy Butler’s ankle; he missed a game and a half without him last week but won anyway, since they were only playing Detroit and Oklahoma City. But even when he’s on the floor, his perimeter shooting has been a problem; he has an effective field goal percentage of 33.3% on shots outside the lane but inside the arc. This is a career low and puts him at 286th among 289 players who have attempted at least 100 shots from that area. Even so, Miami has won 13 of their last 15 with Butler on the floor, and as the Heat enter a tougher stretch, they need him back to hold off the Bucks, 76ers and Celtics atop the East.
Charlotte is an interesting team, riding a four-game winning streak in which they have put up 132.6 points per 100 possessions, scoring at a white-hot pace. That included hanging 129 points on a Dallas defense ranked sixth in the league and a terrific offensive burst in the last 4:20 of a ten-point win over Atlanta that the Hornets ended up winning by ten. With P.J. Washington playing center, the Hornets were able to dominate both teams. Can they keep this streak going and climb higher up the play-in ladder – or into the top six?
Western Conference
| Seed | Team | Record | Games Back |
| 1 | Phoenix Suns** | 58-14 | – |
| 2 | Memphis Grizzlies | 49-23 | 9 |
| 3 | Golden State Warriors | 47-24 | 10 ½ |
| 4 | Utah Jazz | 45-26 | 12 ½ |
| 5 | Dallas Mavericks | 43-28 | 14 ½ |
| 6 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 42-30 | 16 |
| 7 | Denver Nuggets | 42-30 | 16 |
| 8 | L.A. Clippers | 36-37 | 22 ½ |
| 9 | New Orleans Pelicans | 30-41 | 27 ½ |
| 10 | L.A. Lakers | 30-41 | 27 ½ |
| 11 | San Antonio Spurs | 28-44 | 30 |
| 12 | Portland Trail Blazers | 26-44 | 31 |
| 13 | Sacramento Kings | 25-48 | 33 ½ |
| 14 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 20-51 | 37 ½ |
(Houston has been eliminated from the postseason in the Western Conference)
Do you think there’s some tanking going on in the West right now? The Thunder, Kings and Trail Blazers are on a combined 16-game losing streak. The Spurs are still fighting, winners of four of their last ten, and they could catch the Lakers and send LeBron’s latest All-Star roster home without a trip to the postseason.
Phoenix has won five in a row, and these five games have been their best stretch with points scored per game (129.1) as well as point differential (+19.0) for every 100 possessions. Their opponents all had losing records except for Chicago, and they had to go to overtime to beat Sacramento, but Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton had fouled out of that game and they won anyway. In the clutch, the Suns score 128.7 points per 100 possessions, still tops in the NBA. They are now second in both defensive and offensive efficiency.
Memphis is 14-2 in games that they have had to play without star Ja Morant, who is the favorite for the Most Improved Player award this year and is also in the MVP conversation. When he’s out, the team’s defense has permitted only 98.9 points per 100 possessions. That’s elite level D, and it shows that the Grizzlies know how to come together when their top player is on the shelf.
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