We're entering the hot phase of the regular season, during which many teams in both conferences are fighting for playoff spots.
In the Eastern Conference, the top eight teams are locked up, but there is still home-court advantage and weaker first-round opponents to fight for. In the Western Conference, the current Nos. 3-8 seeds look relatively safe, unless the Nuggets can muster an unlikely comeback. Teams are battling to jump ahead of the Nos. 7 or 8 seeds, as that would mean playing the Warriors or Rockets in the first round.
Using real plus-minus-driven team power ratings that adjust for player injuries, we simulated the final days of the season thousands of times to come up with projected wins, most likely seeds and most likely playoff opponents for each NBA team.