The 2014-15 NBA regular season has entered its final month, and there certainly isn’t a shortage of storylines leading into the playoffs.
A few individual players and teams are worth watching because their success—or lack thereof—will help shape the postseason, the most important part of any professional league.
While the Western Conference is the premier faction of the NBA and will showcase a nightly struggle for important seeds, the race for the East’s final spots will be entertaining, too.
One thing is for sure: We better strap in for the final 256 games of the campaign.
How Hot Can the Pacers Finish?
At the end of January, the Indiana Pacers held a meager 17-32 record, a 98.0 offensive rating—the second-worst mark in the league, per NBA.com—and a 101.1 defensive clip.
Merely finishing at .500 would take a 24-9 stretch, which, no way, right?
Well, wrong. Since the beginning of February, the Pacers have posted 13 victories in just 16 outings. Their offensive rating has soared to a spectacular 107.2 that ranks fifth and is just one-tenth behind the tremendous Golden State Warriors. Plus, Indiana’s defensive rating of 96.7 only trails the Utah Jazz.
George Hill’s return from a groin injury has spearheaded the team’s resurgence. The point guard has racked up has registered 14.1 points, 5.7 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per outing while committing just 1.6 turnovers during the stretch.
The Pacers—behind Hill, a favorable schedule and Rodney Stuckey’s elevated offensive impact—are in terrific position to finish strong. Now, it’s a matter of how hot they do.
What’s Up With the Eastern Conference?
Courtesy of USA Today: How good are the Hawks?
The Atlanta Hawks will be the No. 1 seed, followed by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Chicago Bulls, despite their serious injury issues, should be safe. The Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards are struggling, but both franchises have likely earned enough wins to not worry about a collapse.
Additionally, the Pacers are simply on fire and close to solidifying a postseason berth. That likely leaves one spot open for a quartet of clubs—unless, of course, the Milwaukee Bucks collapse.
Milwaukee has tremendous defensive length but a limited offensive presence, which has led to a 3-8 record since adding Michael Carter-Williams and shipping out Brandon Knight. The Bucks’ remaining schedule is brutal, and they conceivably could fall out of the top eight seeds.
Consequently, if Milwaukee continues to tumble, Jason Kidd’s team will find itself battling with the Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and, to an admittedly lesser extent, the Brooklyn Nets.
The conference could send anywhere from one to three sub-.500 franchises into the playoffs. The race for elite mediocrity is on.
Does Russ’ Triple-Double Watch End With KD’s Return?
The Oklahoma City Thunder are 4-4 sans Kevin Durant, who is expected to return from a foot injury shortly, according to ESPN’s Royce Young. The offense will benefit from KD’s presence, but how much will it impact Russell Westbrook?
If Durant is sidelined, the point guard knows what he needs to do: Everything. Westbrook is also ridiculously capable of accomplishing everything.
The UCLA product recently tallied his eighth triple-double of the campaign, giving him six in the last eight games. It made Westbrook the active player with the most in a single season, per Basketball-Reference.
OKC is fighting for its postseason life, but Westbrook’s individual dominance is an exciting topic, particularly when accompanied by the reigning MVP.
Which Western Teams Will Grab Home-Court Advantage?
Courtesy of USA Today: Warriors will be top seed, but what about the rest?
Boasting a league-best 52-13 record and 6.5-game edge, the Golden State Warriors are running away with the top seed in the West. But there’s an absolute mess behind Steve Kerr’s squad.
Just five games separate the second-ranked Memphis Grizzlies and No. 7 San Antonio Spurs, with no more than a two-game difference between the Grizz, Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and Spurs.
A report from ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh suggests home-court advantage is slowly becoming overrated, but it means something to this group of contenders.
| TEAM | RECORD | HOME W-L | HOME v 2-7 |
| Memphis Grizzlies | 46-20 | 24-7 | 5-4 |
| Portland Trail Blazers | 43-20 | 28-6 | 5-3 |
| Houston Rockets | 43-22 | 24-9 | 6-3 |
| Los Angeles Clippers | 42-24 | 24-9 | 4-3 |
| Dallas Mavericks | 42-25 | 22-11 | 4-2 |
| San Antonio Spurs | 40-24 | 24-8 | 4-3 |
The right-most column of the accompanying table shows a respective team’s home record against the other teams listed. While the difference isn’t staggering, a 4-3 record would be good enough to survive and advance in the playoffs.
Home-court advantage is far from a perfect indicator of postseason success, but it definitely helps a potential championship run.
Battle for the Eighth Seed in the West
The Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans have each compiled a 36-29 record and are tied for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference. A playoff battle doesn’t get much more exciting than this one.
Although the Phoenix Suns hold a 34-33 mark, they’re nothing more than spoilers at this point. Phoenix must encounter one of the league’s most daunting remaining schedules, but the Suns can disrupt the eighth seed during two meetings with New Orleans twice and one with OKC.
Nevertheless, the season series between the franchises has concluded, and the Pelicans earned a 3-1 advantage. So, Anthony Davis and Co. hold the tiebreaker should both teams finish with the same mark.
New Orleans has nine road games and must challenge 11 clubs with winning records, while the Thunder will enter seven and 10 such contests, respectively.
The final playoff position will likely change hands a few times, and one deserving team will fall short of qualifying for the postseason. Every basketball fan ought to be following this storyline down the stretch.
Unless otherwise noted, stats are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and are accurate entering March 14.
Photo: USA Today