NBA Playoffs Scenarios and NCAA Tournament Final

But first, a long overdue update on the WBC.

So, the WBC is over. Japan won. A note on that: I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to see this become a battle between the Far East teams. That's just a thought. It should be the WORLD Baseball Classic, and the event has many issues yet to be worked out.

Now, to the real topic of this blog post. In the NBA, the Suns seem to be lost. At 42-35, a loss will cost them the playoffs. In a 9-team conference (10th place Golden State is 14 games behind Phoenix) the Suns have been struggling to get back into the picture. A Dallas Mavericks win will clinch the final playoff spot while much in the East is yet to be decided. Allowing 140 points to the team you're chasing last night won't help the Suns either.

-The Cavaliers have gotten their home record to 37-1 (the only blip was a loss to the Lakers). I hope that someone can spoil the fun soon (for MJ's 95-96 Bulls, please).

-At the 6th seed in the East, the 76ers have clinched a playoff spot. At 7th is Ben Gordon (above) and the Bulls then 8th is Tayshaun Prince (right) and the Pistons. The Bobcats are 9th and the Pacers are 10th. Playoff scenarios:

-For the Indiana Pacers to get into the playoffs, the Pistons must lose all 5 remaining games while the Pacers win all of theirs. Meanwhile, the Bobcats must lose two of their five remaining games. Basically, a Pistons win can eliminate the Pacers.

-For the Charlotte Bobcats to get into the playoffs, the Pistons must lose three of the next five while the Bobcats win four. If the Pistons win four or the Bobcats lose two, the Pistons seal off the 8th spot.
-The Bulls follow the same scenarios as the Pistons seeing as they have identical records despite the Bulls holding the tiebreaker.
-What happened to the Milwaukee Bucks? The Bucks once held the 8th spot and the Bulls were chasing them and now their record has fallen to 32-46, good for the 12th seed including 2-8 in their last ten games.

The NCAA tourney wraps up with the title game featuring UNC and MSU. I don't really follow college basketball, so in case you're wondering, my bracket is doing bad after I had the Illini make it to the Sweet 16. For this one, I've got Kalin Lucas and MSU.