Eastern Conference

Believe it or not, we are still waiting to see which team from the East will occupy that eighth seed position entering the play-offs. The Toronto Raptors and the Chicago Bulls are still neck and neck, but only one of them will face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. At the close of the week both teams ended with a 38-41 record, with only three games remaining. The Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics are also in a battle — this to decide which of them will finish third and fourth behind the Magic and the Cavs. The Celtics rallied to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday and ensured that they remain in close proximity to the Hawks. The Bucks, Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats are only separated by three games, so the remaining games of the season could decide a lot more than just play-off seedings.

The only two teams certain of their places are the Cavaliers and the Magic. The Cavs without LeBron James suffered three successive losses including a 92-98 loss against second-placed Orlando Magic on Sunday. It was the Magic’s fourth consecutive win, improving on their league leading post-All Star break record of the most wins. The Magic after Sunday finished with a record of 57-23, having only two games left before they start their play-offs. They are certainly hoping to record wins in their remaining two games.

Who are the main challengers?

Western Conference

On Sunday in a potential first-round match-up, the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed the Portland Trailblazers to the Staples Center. In a huge turn of events the Trailblazers, who lost star player Brandon Roy early in the second quarter, rallied against the Lakers to defeat them 91-88. With this in mind the question arises as to which team in the conference is the true contender for the conference title.

The Lakers have uncharacteristically lost six of their last 10 games, so while they are arguably the most talented team they are nowhere as close to the form they had last season. The Dallas Mavericks are being boosted by a resurgent Jason Kidd and may just be the team to beat in the conference. The 2006 NBA finalists are enjoying the additions of Caron Butler and company and closed last week with a 53-27 record. The Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz were locked at 52-28 behind the Mavs but had contrasting week-ending results as the Nuggets lost one while the Jazz won.

The high-flying Phoenix Suns suffered a hard-fought 91-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their last game of the week on Friday. This has pushed them back in the race to second place in the conference, however, they still have the best record over the last 10 games of all the teams in the conference.

The San Antonio Spurs are in a battle with the Trailblazers as to which of them will finish eighth in the West. Surprisingly, what both of them can boast of is a win over the Lakers in the past seven days after the Spurs powered past the Lakers in midweek. Therefore, they may just be comfortable knowing that the struggling Lakers are their first-round opponents in the play-offs.