{"id":661746,"date":"2026-03-16T21:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T21:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/661746\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T21:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T21:51:19","slug":"2026-nba-playoff-picture-standings-tiebreakers-as-lakers-and-rockets-jostle-in-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/661746\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NBA playoff picture: Standings, tiebreakers as Lakers and Rockets jostle in West"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are less than a month out from the close of the 2025-26 NBA<\/a> regular season. The final day of games will be on Sunday, April 12. Between now and then, we will be updating this playoff picture each day to keep you up to date on the standings, important magic numbers, all relevant tiebreakers, and our SportsLine projections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is where we stand entering play on Monday, March 16.<\/p>\n

2026 NBA Playoff PictureIf the season ended today…<\/p>\n

Play-In Tournament
East: No. 7 Heat<\/a> vs. No. 8 76ers<\/a>, No. 9 Hawks<\/a> vs. No. 10 Hornets<\/a>
West: No. 7 Suns<\/a> vs. No. 8 Clippers<\/a>, No. 9 Warriors<\/a> vs. No. 10 Trail Blazers<\/a><\/p>\n

East first round
No. 1 Pistons<\/a> vs. No. 8 76ers\/Heat\/Hawks\/Hornets
No. 2 Celtics<\/a> vs. No. 7 Heat\/76ers
No. 3 Knicks<\/a> vs. No. 6 Raptors<\/a>
No. 4 Cavaliers<\/a> vs. No. 5 Magic<\/p>\n

West first round
No. 1 Thunder<\/a> vs. No. 8 Clippers\/Suns\/Warriors\/Blazers
No. 2 Spurs<\/a> vs. No. 7 Suns\/Clippers
No. 3 Lakers<\/a> vs. No. 6 Timberwolves<\/a>
No. 4 Rockets<\/a> vs. No. 5 Nuggets<\/a><\/p>\n

Western Conference standings<\/p>\n

At the top of the West, No. 2 San Antonio still has an outside shot to catch the No. 1 Thunder, but one way or another those are going to be the top two teams. After that, five teams are battling for the 3-7 seeds.<\/p>\n

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (53-15)Tiebreaker vs. Spurs: Spurs clinchedSportsLine record projection:\u00a063-19, 100% chance of making playoffs2. San Antonio Spurs (49-18)Tiebreaker vs. Thunder:\u00a0Spurs clinchedSportsLine record projection:\u00a060-22, 100% chance of making playoffs3. Los Angeles Lakers (42-25)Tiebreaker vs. Rockets:\u00a0Rockets lead 1-0SportsLine record projection: 50-32, 98.1% chance of making playoffs4. Houston Rockets (41-25)Tiebreaker vs. Lakers:\u00a0Rockets lead 1-0SportsLine projections:\u00a051-31, 99.6% chance of making playoffs5. Denver Nuggets (41-27)Tiebreaker vs. Timberwolves:\u00a0Nuggets ownTiebreaker vs. Suns: Nuggets ownSportsLine projections:\u00a049-33, 97.8% chance of making playoffs6. Minnesota Timberwolves (41-27)Tiebreaker vs. Nuggets:\u00a0Nuggets ownTiebreaker vs. Suns: Suns ownSportsLine projections:\u00a050-32, 98.1% chance of making playoffs7. Phoenix Suns (39-28)Tiebreaker vs. Nuggets:\u00a0Nuggets ownTiebreaker vs. Timberwolves: Suns ownSportsLine projections:\u00a047-35, 85.4% chance of making playoffs8. L.A. Clippers (34-33)Tiebreaker vs. Warriors:\u00a0Clippers lead 2-1Tiebreaker vs. Blazers: Clippers lead 2-0SportsLine projections:\u00a043-39, 48.1% chance of making playoffs9. Golden State Warriors (32-35)Tiebreaker vs. Clippers:\u00a0L.A. leads 2-1Tiebreaker vs. Blazers: Portland ownsSportsLine projections:\u00a041-41, 48.2% chance of making playoffs10. Portland Trail Blazers (32-36)Tiebreaker vs. Warriors:\u00a0Portland ownsTiebreaker vs. Clippers: L.A. leads 2-0SportsLine projections:\u00a039-43, 24.7% chance of making playoffsEastern Conference standings<\/p>\n

In the East, Detroit has a firm hold on the top spot over Boston and the tiebreaker already clinched. The Celtics are focused on holding off the No. 3 Knicks, who are trying to hold off the No. 4 Cavs, who are trying to hold off the No. 5 Magic. So yeah, it’s tight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Detroit Pistons (48-19)Tiebreaker vs. Celtics:\u00a0Pistons ownSportsLine projections:\u00a058-24, 100% chance of making playoffs2. Boston Celtics (44-23)Tiebreaker vs. Pistons:\u00a0Pistons ownTiebreaker vs. Knicks: Knicks lead 2-1SportsLine projections:\u00a054-28, 100% chance of making playoffs3. New York Knicks (44-25)Tiebreaker vs. Celtics:\u00a0Knicks lead 2-1Tiebreaker vs. Cavaliers: Knicks ownSportsLine projections:\u00a054-28, 100% chance of making playoffs4. Cleveland Cavaliers (41-27)Tiebreaker vs. Knicks:\u00a0Knicks ownTiebreaker vs. Magic: Cavs lead 2-1SportsLine projections:\u00a051-31, 100% chance of making playoffs5. Orlando Magic (38-28)Tiebreaker vs. Cavs:\u00a0Cavs lead 2-1Tiebreaker vs. Raptors: Series tied 1-1Tiebreaker vs. Heat: Miami ownsSportsLine projections:\u00a045-37, 68.5% chance of making playoffs6. Toronto Raptors (38-29)Tiebreaker vs. Cavs: Cavs lead 2-1Tiebreaker vs. Magic:\u00a0Series tied 1-1Tiebreaker vs. Heat:\u00a0Raptors lead 2-0Tiebreaker vs. Sixers: Philly leads via division recordTiebreaker vs. Hawks: Raptors ownSportsLine projections:\u00a047-35, 97.8% chance of making playoffs7. Miami Heat (38-30)Tiebreaker vs. Magic:\u00a0Miami ownsTiebreaker vs. Raptors:\u00a0Raptors lead 2-0Tiebreaker vs. Sixers:\u00a0Series tied 1-1Tiebreaker vs. Hawks:\u00a0Heat lead 2-1SportsLine projections:\u00a045-37, 79% chance of making playoffs8. Philadelphia 76ers (37-31)Tiebreaker vs. Raptors:\u00a0Philly leads via division recordTiebreaker vs. Heat:\u00a0Series tied 1-1Tiebreaker vs. Hawks:\u00a076ers ownSportsLine projections:\u00a043-39, 53.1% chance of making playoffs9. Atlanta Hawks (36-31)Tiebreaker vs. Raptors:\u00a0Raptors ownTiebreaker vs. Heat:\u00a0Heat lead 2-1Tiebreaker vs. Sixers:\u00a076ers ownSportsLine projections:\u00a043-39, 48.9% chance of making playoffs10. Charlotte Hornets (34-34)Tiebreaker vs. Hawks:\u00a0Hornets ownTiebreaker vs. Sixers:\u00a0Series tied 1-1SportsLine projections:\u00a042-40, 49.1% chance of making playoffsNotable magic numbersThunder’s magic number to clinch West’s No. 1 seed: 12Pistons’ magic number to clinch East’s No. 1 seed: 11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are less than a month out from the close of the 2025-26 NBA regular season. The final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[208,7,84999,75,473,193,187,188,164,194,67087,85000,60281,60280,135,150,189,152,6,11,10059,2550,58101,191,179,207,472,471,474,476],"class_list":["post-661746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-playoffs","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-basketball","tag-basketball-playoff-picture","tag-boston-celtics","tag-charlotte-hornets","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-houston-rockets","tag-knicks-record","tag-knicks-standings","tag-lakers-record","tag-lakers-standings","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-miami-heat","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-nba-postseason","tag-nba-standings","tag-nba-playoff-picture","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-toronto-raptors"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}