Have you seen the standings in the Western Conference? Denver is the 2 seed (but only by one game), three teams are tied for the 3rd seed, Dallas and New Orleans are tied for the 6th seed, and all of those teams play each other tonight. Wow.

The nba.com website breaks down the playoff scenario here

Quick preview: the Rockets can finish anywhere from the 2-5 seeds. Think they'll be playing for something tonight at the AAC? They also hold all the right tie-breakers, so if they win, their worst possible seeding would be 3.

Dallas needs help to get out of the 7-seed; even if the Mavericks win, they need New Orleans to lose (which could happen, the Hornets play in San Antonio). The other game is Denver at Portland (so Denver is going to have a hard time staying #2, unless the Mavs help them out by beating Houston).

Which team do you hope Dallas plays? First of all, eliminate Portland because the way the scenarios work out, it's not possible for the Mavs and Blazers to meet in the first round (which is unfortunate, because Dallas is 3-0 against them).

Taking home court advantage into account for tonight's games, I have come up with this very unscientfiic breakdown for the possible playoff scenarios:

7 Dallas vs. 2 Denver (25%)
7 Dallas vs. 2 Houston (20%)
6 Dallas vs. 3 San Antonio (45%)

That Dallas-San Antonio matchup is the best one for the Mavs (2-2 season series, Ginobli out for playoffs), and for it to happen, the home teams just have to hold serve in tonight's games.

Remember, these percentages are for entertainment purposes only and have no scientific foundation. Happy basketball!

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