The State of Tiebreakers, the 2 Seed, Beating the Pacers

I was curious today, so I looked it up to see what the tiebreaker rules are the for the NBA and locking up playoff seeding. They are:

1. Overall record (duh).
2. Head-to-head record.
3. Division winner over a non-Division winner (if different divisions)
4. Division record by winning % if same division.
5. Conference record by winning % if different divisions.
6. If all else tied, record against playoff teams.
7. Coin flip.

With us and the Bucks, if we tie at the end of the year, we also tied the head-to-head at 2-2, so we are currently headed for the bolded spot on the list, Divisional Record.

Currently the Bucks are 10-7 in the Central, we are 9-5. The Bucks have zero remaining games against Central Division opponents, so will finish with a .588 winning percentage. We have two games left against the Pacers. Win both, we obviously take it. Win 1 and we finish ahead at 10-6. Lose both, we lose our tiebreaker at 9-7.

Chances are if we lose both, we aren't keeping up for the 2 seed anyhow, but it does kind of make the Pacers matchups our most important remaining games for the year, in terms of controlling our own destiny to the most favorable seed.

Predictions on our remaining games? On the Bucks remaining games?

Cavs schedule remaining

Bucks schedule remaining

Personally I think our floor is looking like 9 wins, but it probably takes 11 or 12 to lock up the 2 seed. The Bucks end of season is a rough one, with 4 games in 5 days against two top seeds and the Magic trying to chase a #4 seed. If we can squeak ahead by a game or two, odds are they might rest up their roster and accept the 3 seed. The gauntlet for us is the West Coast trip, starting with Denver, ending with the LA B2B.