By: Danny Grugan, contributor 
Welcome to another edition of Around the NBA here at Sixerdelphia. This week, we take a look the playoff races at the bottom of both of the East and West. In addition to that, we explore the situation in Cleveland with Kyrie Irving reportedly no longer wanting to play there and the brilliance of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors Let's get started…
THE BATTLE FOR PLAYOFF POSITIONING WITH SIX WEEKS TO GO
The 2015-16 regular season comes to an end six weeks from tonight and it remains for the most part a muddled playoff picture. In the East, three through nine, are separated by just five games and also lurking in the 10 spot are the Washington Wizards, who’ve won three in a row and seven of 10. The Pacers are currently in the seven spot at 31-29, but they’ve lost three in a row and at the moment look to be the most vulnerable. My best guess is Washington winds up grabbing the seven seed while Chicago, Detroit and Indiana take it all the way down to the wire for that eighth and final playoff spot. At the top of the East, Toronto remains 2.5 games back of Cleveland. The Raptors beat the Cavs this past Friday in a thrilling game at Air Canada Centre, but followed that up with a loss at Detroit and missed an opportunity to gain more ground.
The Celtics had a big win over the Heat on Saturday night and hold a small 1.5 game lead on Miami for the three spot. Both teams are playing good ball with Miami having been strengthened by the recent acquisition of Joe Johnson, who was bought out of his contract in Brooklyn. Johnson scored 24 points last night in just his second game with the Heat in a win over Chicago. The coveted three spot means avoiding the Cavs until the Conference Finals and probably won’t be settled until the last night of the regular season, April 13th, when the two teams will meet in Boston.
The situation out West is a bit more clear with the top four seeds essentially locked in. I suppose there is a chance the Clippers could catch the Thunder for the three seed and we’ll certainly know more after tonight when the teams meet at Staples Center (10:30 ESPN). Many assumed the Grizzlies would fall out of the playoff picture following the injury to Marc Gasol and deadline trades of Cortney Lee and Jeff Green. Memphis, however, has stayed afloat and at 35-24, seem likely to hold onto the fifth spot. The Blazers have won nine of 10 and aside from the Warriors are the best story in the league. They’ll more than likely move past the Mavericks for the sixth seed. Houston and Utah are currently separated by just a half game for the eighth spot. I have a hard time believing the Rockets, with their talent, won’t make the playoffs. Dallas and the Jazz will presumably battle it out for the final spot. They’ll meet April 11th in Utah.
You can check the current playoff matchups daily at http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/matchups
ALL NOT WELL IN CLEVELAND
The Cleveland Cavaliers are 42-17 and remain heavy favorites to get back to the NBA Finals and yet drama always seems to follow the defending Eastern Conference Champions. Earlier this week, ESPN’S Stephen A. Smith stated on First Take that Kyrie Irving isn’t happy in Cleveland and would prefer to be elsewhere. The Cavs squeaked out a win over the Pacers on Monday 100-96 ,but there were times late in the game that LeBron James was visibly frustrated with Kevin Love for passing up open shots. Kyrie, to the surprise of no one denied his unhappiness, after the game. That story here: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14874461/kyrie-irving-deflects-talk-wants-cleveland-cavaliers
On Sunday, after being beat soundly by the Washington Wizards, Cavs guard JR Smith voiced his concerns. That story here: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14865943/jr-smith-says-concern-cleveland-cavaliers-extremely-high-another-loss
Ultimately, winning cures all and should Cleveland get back to the Finals, all this stuff will be forgotten. For the Cavs and Lebron James, it’s title or bust. Kyrie Irving isn’t going anywhere. but unless the Cavs are able to win the whole thing, changes will be made and that most likely means Kevin Love getting traded. Stay tuned, never a dull moment in “THE LAND”
THE AMAZING GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
The Oklahoma City Thunder led the Warriors by 12 in the fourth quarter and following a three-pointer from Kevin Durant, they led by four with 14.5 seconds left. They outrebounded Golden State by 30 and still it wasn’t enough. Thanks in large part to the brilliance of Steph Curry and a pair of improbable clutch free throws from Andre Iguodala, the Warriors won in overtime 121-118. Curry drilled a three-point bomb from just past half court to win the game. The basketball world exploded on twitter, but it wasn’t so much a collective open jaw as much as it was everyone laughing together at the fact that no one was surprised. The Warriors and Curry have made the absurd routine. In many ways, they are embarrassing the league. After last night’s win against the Hawks, that saw both Curry and Iguodala sit out, Golden State is 54-5. It doesn’t even make sense to write. 73 wins now seem like a formality and to be honest so does another title. It’s an amazing team led by an equally amazing superstar and coach. The scary thing is they could be just getting started.
