The Battle for the 8th Seed in the West Intensifies

With a little less than six weeks to go in the NBA's regular season, the competition for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference is heating up. It has become fairly apparent that the first seven playoff positions will belong to Phoenix, San Antonio, Seattle, Dallas, Sacramento, Houston, and Memphis, with their seedings likely to change. That leaves the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Minnesota Timberwolves to battle it out for the the 8th seed.

The Denver Nuggets seemed like a sure bet to miss the playoffs back in January, when the team was 8 games below .500. But after the team replaced interim head coach Michael Cooper with George Karl on January 27th, the team has flourished behind the solid play of Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Marcus Camby, and Andre Miller. Denver is beginning to live up to the high expectations that were set for them before the season started. The Nuggets are 14-4 since Karl, who the NBA named February's Coach of the Month, began coaching the team and have emerged as the leading candidate for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Nuggets are currently riding a 7 game winning streak. They are set to play at San Antonio tomorrow, then they will start a 7 game home stand on Sunday against Phoenix, Charlotte, LA Clippers, Milwaukee, Washington, LA Lakers, and Sacramento. The Nuggets currently have a record of 31-29.

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently tied with Denver for the 8th playoff spot. The Lakers, who are a young team that has faced a number of distractions this season including their coach's retirement and various injuries, are growing together as a team. The team's biggest problem this season has been their lack of consistency. Kobe Bryant has had to learn how to play with newcomers Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Chucky Atkins, Chris Mihm, and the rest of LA's revamped roster. The Lakers have won 3 out of their last 4 games after losing 4 straight. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games, and they started a 6 game road trip on the right foot after beating the Dallas Mavericks 100-95 last night. The Lakers continue their road trip against Eastern Conference teams, including Charlotte, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, and Indiana.

The third team battling with the Lakers and the Nuggets are the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have failed to live up to the high hopes set after last season's run to the Western Conference Finals. The Wolves are currently in 10th place in the West with a record of 31-31. They cannot seem to find a way to get this team playing to their potential. The Wolves' long-time head coach Flip Saunders was fired on February 12th when they had a record of 25-26. They have gone 6-5 since Kevin McHale took over as the interim coach and are 6-4 in their last 10. They will continue to try to gain some momentum as their season winds down, in order to make a push for the last playoff spot. Minnesota has a very hard upcoming schedule playing Orlando, Dallas twice, San Antonio, Mempis, and Houston, with 4 of their next 5 games on the road.