NBA Southwest: Best Division in the League Top to Bottom
The NBA’s last full weekend of the regular season has arrived. The Southwest division might just be the league’s toughest division with four teams of the division’s five teams in the playoffs and a fifth sitting in the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference with just three games to play.
The Memphis Grizzlies sit atop the division and are No. 2 in the playoff race, while the San Antonio Spurs are second in the division and No. 3 in the West a half game back.
The Houston Rockets are third in the division and No. 6 in the West just a half game behind San Antonio. The Dallas Mavericks are in fourth place in the division and a lock for the No. 7 seed in the West.
The New Orleans Pelicans are in fifth in the division and currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. The Pelicans are tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder in eighth but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Thunder.
In the southwest, the Spurs are surging upward, while the Rockets are crashing to the ground. On Friday, the Spurs defeated the Rockets moving the Spurs into third place in the West and plunging the Rockets down to No. 6.
If the season were to end today, instead of holding home court advantage during the first round and playing the Mavericks, Houston would be playing at San Antonio.
The Spurs have won 10 straight games have a good shot of catching Memphis for the second seed.
Three games remain and Houston is playing two of them at home, so things could change and teams currently in second and third could drop to fifth of sixth.
Sunday will be a huge game for both the Rockets and Pelicans as they face off against one another. New Orleans needs every win in its race for the eighth spot with Oklahoma City and Houston wants to claim a higher seed.
Houston has lost its last two after dropping both games of its home and home series with San Antonio. However, the Rockets have not lost three straight games the entire season.
The Western Conference has a glut of talent with the top ten teams all over .500 on the season, while the Eastern Conference has just five teams over .500.
The Southwest Conference could very well send all five of its members to the postseason this year making it easily the strongest division in the NBA top to bottom.
