With the NBA Regular Season finishing up on Wednesday - fans, coaches, and players are poised for the “real” season - The NBA Playoffs. While I am very partial to the Chicago Bulls and I am anxiously awaiting their performance in the postseason, I will be posting regular thoughts, observations, and anecdotes on my take of the NBA Playoffs.

As the season winds down the playoff brackets are starting to take shape. Here’s a look as the situation as it stands now, with two days left in the regular season:

The Eastern Conference has eight teams locked into postseason play, but the seeds have yet to be decided. Currently the Bulls are sitting in the 2-spot, as they hold the tiebreaker over the Cavs. The Cavs are in the must-win on the road tonight against the 76ers, as they have to win out and hope the Bulls lose if they want to slip into the 2-spot. While the schedule favors the Cavs for their remaining two opponents (76ers, Bucks), the Bulls have been dominating opponents lately, including the Nets who the Bulls beat by 31 points in their last meeting on April 6th. The Nets are hosting the Bulls in their season finale tomorrow and are hoping to win in order to move ahead of the Wizards, who currently own the 6-seed.

The Western Conference is awaiting the result of the battle for the #8 seed between Golden State and the L.A. Clippers. The Warriors currently are sitting in the 8-spot and enjoy a 1-game lead on the Clippers but both teams have two remaining games. Both teams face tough opponents tonight as the Clippers are on the road against the Suns and the Warriors are hosting the Mavericks. However, with the playoffs looming the top teams in the West may be resting their starters so both teams could pull out a win. Also, the Warriors are the only team on the Mavs schedule that has yet to lose to Dallas. While the Warriors control their own playoff destiny, the Clippers only hope to sneak in is if they win Tuesday against the Suns and Wednesday at New Orleans/Oklahoma and the Warriors lose both their remaining games. With the way the Warriors play defense (as in lack there of), anything can happen.

Here’s how the conference standings currently look and they will most likely not change before the playoffs. The current standings are pretty set in stone, except maybe a switch between Washington and New Jersey in the East and maybe a switch between Golden State and the Lakers in the West.

Eastern Conference

1. Detroit

2. Chicago

3. Toronto

4. Miami

5. Cleveland

6. Washington

7. New Jersey

8. Orlando

Western Conference

1. Dallas

2. Phoenix

3. San Antonio

4. Utah

5. Houston

6. Denver

7. LA Lakers

8. Golden State

The playoff situation for the Bulls would be best suited if they secured the 2-spot and faced either Washington or New Jersey in the first round. They would also avoid potential matchups against Miami and Detroit, until a potential Eastern Conference Finals matchup. The road to the Eastern Conference Finals will not be easy though, as the Bulls would have to potentially face tough opponents in both the Toronto Raptors or the Cleveland Cavaliers.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the final games of the regular season and remember to check back here for analysis throughout the playoffs and into the NBA Finals. Go Bulls.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 5:25 pm and is filed under NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.