The NBA playoffs standings for 2014 are set now and the Indiana Pacers have the number one seed and home court advantage over the Miami Heat in the eastern conference, while the full matchups in the east and west are now on the schedule for the postseason after the Grizzlies clinched the last spot in the west and the NY Knicks are officially out and while the rounds are not totally locked in yet, the seeds are in each conference.
The Pacers took the number one seed after their terrible slump down the stretch this season and now they have the chance to host Miami if they can get to the eastern conference finals. Last season Miami had it and ended up winning the east in seven games and now the Pacers have the advantage and that was something they were gunning for all season. The Heat sat LeBron James on Monday night and lost, while the Pacers won to clinch the spot and now those two teams will duke it out for the chance to get to the finals in the east.
The West has the San Antonio Spurs as the top seed and they are in ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder after both teams played very well towards the end of the season. The east should be a tough battle between the two sides, as the Miami Heat and the Pacers have easily been the best two best teams in the conference this season and everyone is hoping it comes down to them at the end in the eastern finals like it did last year. This time the Pacers will have home court and that could change the way the series plays out for both teams, as the Pacers felt that they could have won over Miami last year if they had that final game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Roy Hibbert has been a shell of himself lately, but these last two games could turn him around heading into the playoffs, while Paul George needs to get back to where he was earlier in the season when he looked like he was starting to really breakout as an elite scorer. The second half of the season and the beginning of April in particular has been rough for the Pacers and their shooting percentage overall has gone down in the second half of the season as well. The team added Andrew Bynum earlier in the year but his impact has not been there yet, while the trade for Evan Turner is still a tossup and that could end up a winner of the team performs well in the playoffs.
Right now the Pacers would play the Hawks, while the Heat are against the Bobcats and some of the other series include the Thunder and Mavericks, as well as the Spurs and Grizzlies, Clippers and Warriors as well as the Houston Rockets and Trail Blazers, which could be amazing. In the west the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are the top two seeds and the Memphis Grizzlies are in as the number eight after getting it over the Phoenix Suns.
