The Southwest Division is crazy, and we love it
The National Basketball Association gets a rap for being boring during the regular season. Pundits are always putting the league down, saying that games need to be trimmed off the schedule because fans and players alike want to see the postseason come quicker.
For all those who have been sleeping through the last six months, you have missed an epic unfolding in the Southwest Division. Currently, all five teams are in the Western Conference playoffs with the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks having clinched spots. The New Orleans Pelicans are tied for the eighth and final seed with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but hold the tiebreaker.
With each team only having one game remaining, a slew of things are still undecided. The Spurs, who seemed destined for a sixth or seventh seed all year, have reeled off 11 consecutive wins to put themselves into the No. 2 seed. However, Houston is tied with San Antonio, with Memphis only a game back of both.
The Rockets close the season with a home date against the Utah Jazz, while the Spurs go on the road to face the Pelicans. New Orleans has massive implications staring it in the face in that contest, making the Southwest all the more fascinating. If the Pelicans can topple San Antonio, they will clinch the eighth seed and face the Golden State Warriors in the quarterfinals. Should they lose, the Thunder would have to beat the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center to sneak into the postseason.
The Spurs will be fighting hard, knowing that a victory clinches another division title and keeps them in the second slot, giving them home-court advantage for the first two rounds. A loss likely gives Houston the Southwest crown and puts San Antonio in the fifth seed or sixth seed, depending on whether the Grizzlies finish the season against the Indiana Pacers at FedEx Forum. The Pacers are playing for their lives, sitting eighth in the Eastern Conference.
Dizzy yet?
The only clarity we have in the Southwest is that four teams are in the postseason, and the Mavericks will be seeded seventh and awaiting the division winner. Of the Spurs, Rockets and Grizzlies, the two non-division winners will be the fifth and sixth seeds, playing the third-seeded Los Angeles Clippers and fourth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers.
Regardless of how the playoff picture shakes out, this has been fantastic theater. Memphis, San Antonio and Houston are all legitimate title contenders, with the Spurs looking more dangerous with every passing second. The Rockets and Grizzlies are under-the-radar, but still have ample talent and experience to boot. In case it isn’t clear, the Southwest Division is beyond loaded, actually threatening to put the entire group into the tournament.
Enjoy the NBA playoffs, it should be an absolute blast.
