After the Nuggets victory over the Warriors on Thursday night, 2008’s playoff teams are pretty much set in the NBA. Golden State is now one game out of eighth place but since Denver holds the tie-breaker, Golden State would have to finish a win up on them. Each team has three games remaining each but the odds of the Warriors winning all three while Denver only takes one seems a bit out of reach. The Nuggets do have a tougher schedule with Utah, Houston and Memphis remaining while the Warriors have the Clips, Suns and Seattle.
Now, the seeding is a huge jumble in the West. While New Orleans is looking like the King of the Mountain, four teams in the one and a half to two and a half games out. The last three games on the schedule are going to be very interesting seeing how a team like the Lakers could potentially drop from second in the conference to sixth. Utah seems to be the luckiest team in all of this, firmly locked into the fourth spot.
In the East, where nobody really cares, the Hawks have a two game lead on Indiana, seemingly clinching the right to be swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round.