Tiebreakers are complicated. The West playoff picture is complicated. Let us help out.
The Warriors have clinched the No. 1 seed in the 2015 NBA Western Conference playoffs and the Mavericks are locked into No. 7. Everything else is up for grabs. This playoff guide breaks down all of the quirks and tiebreaker situations as the regular season winds down.
We'll update this every morning with current situations.
Last updated: After games played 4/8/2015. The Rockets got drilled by the Spurs and gave up No. 2 to Memphis (who beat the cover off the Pelicans). The 4-6 spots stayed static, Dallas got locked into the No. 7 seed and New Orleans maintained its edge for No. 8 only thanks to its tiebreaker.
Current playoff picture
This is the Too Long; Didn't Read version. If the season ended right this second, here are your first-round matchups. Teams in ALL CAPS are locked into their seeds.
WARRIORS (1) vs. Pelicans (8)
Blazers (4) vs. Clippers (5)
L.A. has home court advantage
Grizzlies (2) vs. MAVERICKS (7)
Rockets (3) vs. Spurs (6)
Standings
If you have a better record than the next team in line, tiebreakers don't matter. There is one quirky thing here: division winners cannot be seeded below No. 4, but division winners do not get home court advantage against teams higher than them in the standings in any case.
Here's the major jumble from the No. 2-6 spots. Note that Portland is a division champ and cannot fall below the No. 4 seed. One of the Grizzlies or Rockets are also guaranteed a top-4 seed.
2. Grizzlies 53-25 --
3. Rockets 53-25 --
4. Blazers 51-27 2
5. Clippers 53-26 0.5
6. Spurs 53-26 0.5
And here's the race for No. 8.
8. Pelicans 42-36 --
9. Thunder 42-36 --
Tiebreaker Situations
If teams finish tied in the standings, this is how berths and seeds will be determined.
MEMPHIS over Houston: The teams split the season series. But the Rockets can no longer finish with a better division or conference record than the Grizzlies, and Memphis' record against West playoff teams (regardless of whether OKC or New Orleans make it) is guaranteed to be better.
MEMPHIS over San Antonio: The teams split the season series. San Antonio cannot finish with a better divisional record and the Grizzlies have clinched a better record against the West.
SOUTHWEST CHAMP over Los Angeles (division winner)
PORTLAND over Los Angeles, Houston, San Antonio and potentially Memphis: The Blazers get an automatic tiebreaker against the Clippers and the two Southwest teams who don't win the division. In addition, even if Houston or San Antonio win the Southwest, Portland has a head-to-head tiebreaker over them.
MEMPHIS over Portland*: This is only the case if Memphis wins the Southwest, in which case it has the head-to-head tiebreaker. If Memphis does not win the Southwest, Portland gets the tiebreaker.
LOS ANGELES over San Antonio: The teams split their season series, but the Spurs cannot finish with a better record against the West.
NEW ORLEANS over Oklahoma City (H2H)
Unsettled Tiebreakers
Houston-San Antonio: The Spurs can clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker with a win on April 10. If the Rockets win, they can clinch the tiebreaker with a win against New Orleans on April 12 or one more Spurs loss against a Western team.
Memphis-Los Angeles: The Grizzlies can clinch this tiebreaker with a win over the Clippers on April 11. If L.A. wins that game, the season series will be split and it'll depend on how the teams finish up against their remaining West schedules.
Houston-Los Angeles: The teams split their season series. L.A. can clinch the tiebreaker by virtue of a better conference record with one more win against a West team. They play Memphis, Denver and Phoenix.
Head-to-head data
This is the head-to-head data used in the above tiebreaker breakdown.
The following table shows each playoff contender's record against other playoff contenders. Records in BOLD indicate that one of the teams has clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker for the season. Records in ITALICS indicate a season series tie, in which case the next tiebreak comes into play. An asterisk indicates the teams will play only three times this season. Otherwise, the teams play each other four times.
| X | GSW | MEM | HOU | POR | LAC | DAL | SAS | OKC | NOP | PHX |
| GSW | -- | 1-1* | GSW 4-0 | GSW 2-0* | GSW 3-1 | GSW 4-0 | SAS 2-1* | GSW 3-1 | GSW 3-1 | GSW 3-1 |
| MEM | 1-1* | -- | 2-2 | MEM 4-0 | MEM 2-1 | MEM 3-1 | 2-2 | MEM 3-1 | 2-2 | MEM 3-0 |
| HOU | GSW 4-0 | 2-2 | -- | POR 2-1* | 2-2 | HOU 3-1 | SAS 2-1 | HOU 3-0* | NOP 2-1 | HOU 3-1 |
| POR | GSW 2-0* | MEM 4-0 | POR 2-1* | -- | LAC 3-1 | POR 2-1 | POR 3-1 | POR 3-0 | POR 3-0* | POR 3-1 |
| LAC | GSW 3-1 | MEM 2-1 | 2-2 | LAC 3-1 | -- | LAC 2-1* | 2-2 | LAC 2-1* | LAC 2-1* | LAC 3-0 |
| DAL | GSW 3-0 | MEM 3-1 | HOU 3-1 | POR 2-1 | LAC 2-1* | -- | 2-2 | DAL 3-1 | DAL 3-1 | PHX 3-1 |
| SAS | SAS 2-1* | 2-2 | SAS 2-1 | POR 3-1 | 2-2 | 2-2 | -- | SAS 2-1* | NOP 2-1 | SAS 2-1 |
| OKC | GSW 3-1 | MEM 3-1 | HOU 3-0* | POR 3-0 | LAC 2-1* | DAL 3-1 | SAS 2-1* | -- | NOP 3-1 | OKC 3-1 |
| NOP | GSW 3-1 | 2-2 | NOP 2-1 | POR 3-0* | LAC 2-1* | DAL 3-1 | NOP 2-1 | NOP 3-1 | -- | 1-1* |
| PHX | GSW 3-1 | MEM 3-0 | HOU 3-1 | POR 3-1 | LAC 3-0 | PHX 3-1 | SAS 2-1 | OKC 3-1 | 1-1* | -- |
Be sure to check out our East Playoff Standings and Tiebreaker Guide.
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1Mt4Cpv
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