NBA

NBA Playoff Race Update: The East Is Set, But the West Remains Wild

Russell Peddle  —  @rustypedalbike Apr 6th, 2018
The eight playoff teams for the Eastern Conference have been confirmed, but we still have seven teams fighting over five remaining spots out West.

Every Friday, we have been dropping a new edition of this column to update the NBA playoff picture, but this will be the last installment for the 2017-18 season.

We'll explore each team's playoff probability (based on our algorithms), divide each conference into different tiers of playoff hopefulness, and then discuss any movement among the teams from week to week.

The tiers are as follows:

Sure Things
These are teams with a playoff probability of 99% or more. These teams would need to have the meltdown of the century to miss out on the playoffs.

Bubble Teams
These are the teams that have a decent to very good chance of making the playoffs, but still need to earn their spot and hold off other teams to get there.

Dead or Dying
These teams will need a miracle to make the playoffs or have already been eliminated.

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