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NBA Playoff Picture 2023: Updated Bracket, Standings and Seed Predictions
The spotlight will shine on the West playoff race between now and the end of the regular season because the teams from fourth to 12th are separated by four games.
The Eastern Conference playoff race has far more clarity because of the separation between teams. The Chicago Bulls hold a 3.5-game edge over the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards for the No. 10 seed.
At the top, the Milwaukee Bucks lead the Boston Celtics by 1.5 games. The Philadelphia 76ers are four games back of Milwaukee and they seem to be headed for the No. 3 seed unless the standings drastically change over the next few weeks.
Eastern Conference
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1. Milwaukee (53-21)
2. Boston (52-23)
3. Philadelphia (49-25)
4. Cleveland (48-28)
5. New York (42-33)
6. Brooklyn (40-35)
Play-In Race
7. Miami (40-35)
8. Atlanta (37-38)
9. Toronto (37-38)
10. Chicago (36-38)
11. Indiana (33-42)
12. Washington (33-42)
13. Orlando (32-43)
The top four teams in the Eastern Conference have clinched playoff berths.
The Bucks can get a larger grip on the No. 1 seed if they beat Boston and Philadelphia at home on Thursday and Sunday.
Milwaukee should win its other six remaining games, so at least a win over Boston would keep open a clear path to the No. 1 seed.
Boston visits Philadelphia on April 4 in a contest that will likely decide the No. 2 seed if it wins.
The Sixers have three tough games just to get to the Milwaukee-Boston stretch of their schedule. They face Denver on Monday night in a showdown of Most Valuable Player candidates between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. Then they host a desperate Dallas team and a Toronto side fighting for positioning in the play-in round.
Philadelphia finishes with Miami at home and road trips to Atlanta and Brooklyn. That is by far the toughest regular-season conclusion between it, Boston and Milwaukee.
The Sixers could beat the Bucks or Celtics, but still end up as the No. 3 seed because not all of their remaining contests are easy victories.
The other true fight in the East is for the No. 6 seed and play-in round positioning. Cleveland is safe as the No. 4 seed and New York holds a comfortable two-game lead over Brooklyn for the No. 5 seed.
Brooklyn and Miami are tied on record, and the No. 6 seed could be decided on the final day of the regular season, as could the No. 8 seed between Atlanta, Toronto and Chicago.
Indiana, Washington and Orlando may be too far back at this point of the season to mount a significant challenge to the No. 10 seed.
Brooklyn holds the clear edge over Miami since it plays six of its last seven games at home. Miami has five road games in the next seven.
Miami starts its road run in Toronto on Tuesday. The Raptors have the most difficult schedule left of any team in the East. They embark on a five-game road trip after Tuesday. Toronto faces Philadelphia once and Boston twice.
The Raptors did get lucky with two road games in Charlotte, but they also have to finish the season by hosting Milwaukee.
Atlanta and Chicago each have four home games remaining, and their April 4 clash inside the United Center could decide which teams lands in eighth place if Toronto struggles with some of its road games.
Seed Predictions
1. Milwaukee
2. Boston
3. Philadelphia
4. Cleveland
5. New York
6. Brooklyn
7. Miami
8. Chicago
9. Atlanta
10. Toronto
Western Conference
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1. Denver (50-24)
2. Memphis (47-27)
3. Sacramento (45-29)
4. Phoenix (39-35)
5. Los Angeles Clippers (39-36)
6. Golden State (39-37)
Play-In Race
7. Minnesota (38-37)
8. New Orleans (37-37)
9. Los Angeles Lakers (37-38)
10. Oklahoma City (37-38)
11. Dallas (36-39)
12. Utah (35-39)
13. Portland (32-42)
Good luck trying to figure out the Western Conference playoff order.
The Lakers start a five-game road run in Chicago on Wednesday that includes games against Minnesota, Utah and Houston. They also play the Clippers as the road team in Los Angeles on April 5.
Minnesota and New Orleans are in the middle of road trips as well. The real winner over the next week could be Oklahoma City, who hosts Charlotte and Detroit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A two-game winning streak is massive at this point of the season, and it could give OKC some safety while the other teams around it struggle, or play each other.
There is a real chance that the play-in spots are decided on the final day of the regular season, when Minnesota hosts New Orleans and the Jazz visit the Lakers.
Dallas has to hope it can win a few games in the next week and for the teams above it to lose multiple games in order to get back in the playoff spots, but given the way it has played recently, it is hard to imagine that happening.
Seed Predictions
1. Denver
2. Memphis
3. Sacramento
4. Phoenix
5. Golden State
6. Los Angeles Clippers
7. Oklahoma City
8. Los Angeles Lakers
9. Minnesota
10. New Orleans
