JSCOT PROJECTIONS (after Sat games):

                  Current Projected
1.  Los Angeles    56-23   58.53
2.  Dallas         53-27   54.37
3.  Utah           52-28   53.53
4.  Denver         52-28   53.17
5.  Phoenix        51-28   52.56
6.  Oklahoma City  49-30   50.79
7.  San Antonio    49-31   50.36
8.  Portland       48-31   49.8

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS PROJECTIONS:

We've had some fanposts intermittently making "taking care of business" types of projections, but with 5 games or fewer remaining for each team, it makes sense to have some daily updates along this line. Basically, CAT 4 games are the only types of games any of these playoff teams "should" be losing, and thus, the assumption for these "taking care of business" projections is that each team wins all of its remaining games except for CAT 4 games (away games against teams above .500). I'll apply tiebreakers as accurately as I can.

                  Current   Projected Record     Cat.4 Games Remaining
1    Los Angeles   56-23     59-23                0
2    Dallas        53-27     55-27                0
3    Utah          52-28     54-28                0
4*   Phoenix       51-28     53-29                1: @UTA
5*   Denver        52-28     53-29                1: @PHO
6    OKC           49-30     51-31                1: @POR
7**  Portland      48-31     50-32                1: @LAL
8**  San Antonio   49-31     50-32                1: @DAL

* Denver beats Utah for NW division (3-1 season series).

REMAINING GAMES - WEST

LONG STORY SHORT:

Link to Yesterday's Excellent Post (tie breakers, etc)

Ways to 6th Place:
   1) Win remaining 3 games
   2) Lose at LAL, win final two, hope for OKC loss Sunday or Wednesday, and one more Spurs loss
   If we lose to OKC, there is no way to pass them in the standings

Ways to 7th Place:
  1) Win 2 and get 1 more Spurs loss
  2) Win 1 and get 2 more Spurs losses

SATURDAY GAME NOTES:

Dallas 126 at Sacramento 108 - Only a last day home date with the Spurs will likely stand between Dallas and the 2nd seed

San Antonio 104 at Denver 85 - The Spurs trounce the Nuggets to boost their hopes of avoiding LA in round one. Meanwhile, Denver's game at Phoenix on Tuesday could be the difference between the 3 and 5 seeds.

SUNDAY GAME NOTES:

Houston at Phoenix - With closing day back to backs against Denver and Utah, Phoenix cannot afford to drop this one if they want any shot at home court in round one

OKC at Golden State - A win in the bay, coupled with a Portland loss in LA, would give the Thunder the edge over Portland even if they lose to the Blazers on Tuesday.

Portland at Los Angeles - Losing this one could put Portland in danger of dropping all the way to 8th. They would need to win their final two and get a Spurs loss to Dallas to avoid that fate should they lose on Sunday.