Considering how the Oklahoma City Thunder has been good all season long, it cannot be denied that the team has already locked up the top seed in the Wild West now more than ever, being at least 12.5 games ahead of the rest of its main competition so far. But that also means that the remaining teams are left to fend for themselves and fight for playoff positioning.

The Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Memphis Grizzlies are all locked in on an epic dash to come up with the best-winning record and secure as much as home court advantage they can get – at least until the Thunder come into play and take that advantage away in a snap.

There hasn’t been a competitive iteration of the Western Conference aside from today and going back to the 2010 season, where even the 10th seed was still above the .500 mark and yet didn’t make the playoffs. Considering how there’s the Play-In Tournament today, it does seem that there are high hopes for the teams that are still vying for their chances to win big down the stretch.

Race to the 2nd Seed

While OKC has essentially locked up the 1st seed since January, the second seed now comes of big value for the rest of the teams in the Western Conference. Just this March, there’s been an instance when the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, and the Los Angeles Lakers have been tied once for the second seed.

Only one game separates these teams from each other, with two of them being tied with one another. Should this come to the closing moments, the tiebreaker situations will take place, which should concern head-to-head records, division leaders winning the tie, and conference record also playing a huge role.

So far, the Rockets have been the consistent no. 2 seed for most of the season, along with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Los Angeles Lakers made a surge after the trade deadline and went up as high as the second seed. The Denver Nuggets also made a nine-game winning streak and pushed its way up to the second seed in late February.

The lower teams, however, are not that far behind, but there’s a considerable margin from the sixth seed held by the Golden State Warriors all the way to the Play-In spots, which would be a brawl between the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Dallas Mavericks.

The Big Difference

All of the top six teams in the Eastern Conference are essentially clinched for the postseason, meaning that they can all lose their games and still qualify for a playoff spot. The Western Conference, on the other hand, will need a lot of grinding battles as it is expected that the remaining teams will clinch a playoff spot at least by April 11th.

This also says a lot about how OKC has been really great for the season – being able to fend off the rest of the Western Conference and going up top. They are setting the biggest margin for a 1st seed between the second seed with an expected margin of at least 10 games.

If any of the remaining teams in the Western Conference has something to hold on to, it is the fact that every single team will go 0-0 when the playoffs begin, and the records will not matter at the very least. This is a chance for them to deliver their big run now more than ever. But for now, they have to survive the huge battles ahead in the coming weeks.