Houston Rockets (53-14) Current Seed: 1 Per usual, head coach Mike D’Antoni’s offense has the Houston Rockets in first place and rolling through the regular season. However, the question remains if D’Antoni’s system can prove sustainable over the course of several long and grueling Western Conference playoff series. Luckily for Rockets fans, they have a second future Hall of Famer in Chris Paul to pair with current MVP favorite James Harden this time around, as they try to dethrone the Golden State Warriors and claim Western Conference superiority. Predicted Playoff Seed: 1 Golden State Warriors (52-16) Current Seed: 2 With Steph Curry nursing a tweak to his oft-injured right ankle, subsequent reports that fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson could …show more content…
In fact, with Portland firing on all cylinders at just the right time, they may quietly be one of the most dangerous teams as the playoffs approach. Projected Playoff Seed: 3 New Orleans Pelicans (39-28) Current Seed: 6 As a franchise that’s no stranger to mascot changes, management should probably just go ahead and rebrand themselves as the New Orleans Anthony Davis’. When frontcourt running mate DeMarcus Cousins went down with a season-ending Achilles injury, many (including myself) counted the Pelicans out. Instead, Davis has gone on an absolute tear that has his team winning seven out of their last 10 and firmly entrenched in the battle for a top 4 seed in the ever-competitive Western Conference. Regardless of whether Davis will have enough help around him to create serious playoff chaos without Cousins is yet to be determined, but he’ll certainly have built a strong case for MVP along the way nonetheless. Projected Playoff Seed: 4 Minnesota Timberwolves (40-29) Current Seed: