OKC Thunder: Analyzing stretch run schedules with view to seeding

Ten games and counting:

To start the week, almost every team in the mix to land a playoff seed has either nine or eight games remaining. There are two exceptions, the OKC Thunder have the fewest with seven remaining and the Sixers are the lone team with 10 to play.

17 days remain until the final regular season games tip off on April 11. This night will offer 12 games with 24 teams playing. The six teams who’ll finish sooner are the Pacers, Hornets and Hawks in the East. In the West the three teams are the Mavericks, Suns and Warriors.

All six finish the day prior. Ironically, only the Pacers and Warriors get the extra day off as participants heading to the postseason, which begs the question if they will both play on the first day of playoff games.

Given the shifts, let’s take a quick glance at the 18 teams who’ll be vying for those 16 seeds in terms of week 22 results, weekend action and what the immediate future holds. Apologies to Detroit, but they trail the Heat by 6 games in the win column and 5 in the loss column. So, it doesn’t seem feasible the combination of the Bucks imploding and Pistons simultaneously winning out will occur.