What a conundrum as the Lakers and Pelicans winner will have to face an away series against the Nuggets.  It's so so bad to lose that game and hope for a win the next game to line up against okc.  Might just be me but I'd much rather see a young okc team than jokic and squad in the first round.  Not that you'd want to purposely lose but it's just not as bad as everyone would think it is.

And for the east the Knicks won theor way into the 2 seed.  Normally you'd think you would get a nice matchup but they can end up facing a healthy sixers squad which if embid never went out they probably would be a top 4 team.  Well to be the best you have to beat the best right?

I wasn't monitoring what's happening in the East recently so I was surprised that they were no. 2 when I checked earlier. It's not to underestimate the Knicks but I think the Heat or the Sixers are in luck since they have a better chance winning the first round than facing the Bucks or the Celtics.

What a big turn of events!
The Lakers won their game against the Pelicans so they take the 8th spot leaving the Kings and Warriors at the 9th and 10th seed. And so the Phoenix Suns will be entering the secured playoff spot at number 6.

https://x.com/wojespn/status/1779631893824327860

Kings versus Warriors will be fun to watch because of the rivalry. Then I think the Lakers will lose the game against the Pelicans so it might become Warriors versus Lakers for the 8th spot which will also be a fun game to watch.

How about the Miami Heat? The same position as last year and they took the Eastern Conference Championship despite being below the playoffs ranking.
But for now, they have to make sure they win the play-in tournaments first, or else they won't be repeating the same thing as in 2023.
This might be the most interesting playoff ranking that I have seen. 1, 2, and 3 of the West are in the close gap, 4, 5, 6, and 7 too, then 8, 9, and 10.
0.5 and above winning rate for 11 teams. Wow! I bet we will have a great playoff with Game 7's coming.

He had a decent shooting though but he is only given limited minutes. I think the missing piece here is Zion because he only score 12 points in total from a tough shooting night with 4-13. They cannot win with that number as that would only say that the Lakers have locked him down.

By the way, some good news from the Lakers because this man Austin Reave had complicated the whole season without resting a single game.

In playing all 82 games (and the IST Final) Austin Reaves is the Lakers’ Iron Man

The Lakers just avoided their 2nd  kryptonite team in the play-in which swept them this season as well, the Sacramento Kings. The Pelicans are an easier opponent for the Lakers than either the Kings and Warriors, so I think that's way better even if it means they're going to face the Denver Nuggets in the first round if they get past the Pelicans in the 1st round of the play ins. I hope they will get this chance for a shot of redemption. Theres nothing better of a revenge to a team who swept them by both playoffs and season games than to eliminate them in the first round.

I see it differently, I think they are a better team this season compared to last season..

We can see the roster here. https://www.espn.ph/nba/team/roster/_/name/lal/los-angeles-lakers.. they are not lacking height, so I'm sure they have prepared this for this playoffs. I think what lacking on them is their ability to shoot outside, they are not a good 3 point shooting team, unlike the Nuggets who have the size but at the same time are also good in outside shooting.

Now this is the real problem I'm talking about, the Nuggets are healthy this season, so I doubt they'll beat them in a series if they'll meet in the first round. I think it's too early, they should have choose the number 8 and face the inexperience OKC Thunder team.

Lakers won by 16 points on the home court of the Pelicans, it's not even close. I know Pelicans are good but honestly, I don't expect much from them especially against the Lakers who are already in playoff mode. When Lebron and AD are leading the team in scoring, the Lakers will be hard to beat.

Lebron 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 17 assists, (that's insane),.. AD 30 points and 11 rebounds. These two are just eating the Pelicans alive.

I'm betting on the Warriors, I don't want to explain a lot as I just felt that it's just the right bet, They are experienced and that will be the disadvantage of the Sacramento Kings. Warriors can defeat them, they just have to minimize the output of Fox.

Their roster is better than last year although it wasn't close to what it was when they won the title in the Bubble.
You know what's lacking on the team aside from their ability to shoot outside? Leadership. LeBron you might say? I agree with that, but having a coach that the team doesn't like has an effect on the whole team. I guess we will all agree that the Lakers wanted to fire Darvin Ham already. I just don't know the reason why they didn't do it TBH, but I will not be surprised if he will get fired and will have a new coach next season.

The Lakers will get maybe 1 win against the Nuggets or worse, they might get swept "AGAIN".
Before the start of the playoffs, I already predicted that the Nuggets will win the Western Conference again, and will be going to the NBA Finals and from there, they will be facing the Celtics because I don't see any team in the East that can defeat the Celtics in 7 games as well. Heat maybe?

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Well, it seems like the Bucks dodged a bullet because they went down to the 3rd spot because of how awful they played ever since Giannis is out but for me, they did it on purpose because they don't want to face either the Sixers or the Heat in the first round because they know they can't defeat them especially the Sixers with Embiid. For them, the Pacers are a much better opponent since they don't the playoff experience yet. Even though the Bucks lost to the Pacers in their regular season match-up 4-1, I think the Bucks have a better winning percentage against the Pacers who doesn't have any experience at all compare to both the Heat and the Sixers.

Same here, I will be going on the Warriors here against the Sacramento King. They have the rivalry, but not even close as the Warriors have their numbers and obviously, they have the championship DNA.

Although the Kings have improved from last season, it seems that they are inconsistent this year. They started hot, then after the break, it was a different performance from them that's why they lose their position. But still very good play-in, and if we look at the odds, the Warriors as we thought is the slight favorite as per ML.

My prediction for the Western Conference Play-In Tournament is that either the Lakers or Pelicans won't make it to the playoffs, the Warriors will win against the Kings, and whoever faces the Warriors next will lose to them and won't make playoffs, whether it's the Lakers or Pelicans. In short, I'm confident the Warriors will make it to the playoffs. But if Warriors lose to the Kings, they're both has a chance. But hese two California teams won't make playoffs if they face the Lakers in 8th seed battle, but if AD doesn't play, they might have a chance.