NBA Standings 2019: Warriors, Thunder Matched Up For Playoffs, 76ers Separate From Celtics

A few of Wednesday’s results made a significant impact on the latest 2019 NBA standings. The Oklahoma City Thunder (42-30) dropped to eighth in the Western Conference with their loss to the Toronto Raptors (51-21), while the Boston Celtics (43-29) fell further back as the East’s No.5 seed with a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers (47-25).

Oklahoma City looked like they might be the biggest threat to the Golden State Warriors (48-22) in the West just a few weeks ago. Boston started the season considered to be the team in the East with the best shot at defeating the Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals.

With the playoffs set to start in less than a month, neither team is in a very good position to make a run to the Finals.

The Thunder have not been the same since Paul George suffered a shoulder injury. His MVP campaign came to a halt when Oklahoma City went 1-2 in his absence at the end of April. Upon George’s return, the Thunder have a 3-6 record, including a four-game losing streak.

Oklahoma City is currently in line to face Golden State in the first round of the playoffs, though that could certainly change. The Thunder share the same record as the No.7 Los Angeles Clippers (42-30) and the No.6 San Antonio Spurs (42-30). The Warriors are a half-game ahead of the No.2 Denver Nuggets (47-22) for the top seed in the West.

Boston’s first-round postseason matchup is all but set. They are headed for a series with the Indiana Pacers (44-28).

The best the No.5 Celtics can hope to do is swap seeds with the No.4 Pacers and earn home home-court advantage in that series. Philadelphia’s win over Boston gave them a four-game edge over their rivals for the No.3 seed, likely cementing their spot in the playoff picture with 10 games left on the schedule.

The Celtics are six games ahead of the No.6 Detroit Pistons (36-34).

Philadelphia might be starting to put it all together now that the core of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris has been on the same team for several weeks. The 76ers have won six games in a row, including three wins over the top five teams in the East.

The 76ers beat the No.1 Milwaukee Bucks (53-19) Sunday. Milwaukee has a two-game edge over Toronto for the NBA’s best record.