The 2021-22 NBA season has seen the Western Conference lose its stranglehold as its dominant collection of teams.

The East has 10 teams with winning records. The top four seeds have nearly identical records. Even the New York Knicks, who won’t make the play-in tournament, would slot 9th in the West.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns are the standout in the West, with the best record in basketball at 61-14 and the goal of avenging their 2021 NBA Finals loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The upstart Memphis Grizzlies (53-23) are also dominant, but after the top-7 teams, the rest have losing records. The New New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers, currently slotted at 9th and 10th for the play-in, are over 10 games below .500.

The battles in the Western Conference aren’t nearly as tight as in the East, but several battles stand out down the final stretch of the regular season. The Golden State Warriors seemed to have the No. 3 seed locked up but only hold a two-game lead on Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. That might typically be enough with few games left on the calendar, but the continued absence of Stephen Curry weighs heavy on the Warriors.

Curry suffered a sprain in his left foot, and on March 18, it was announced he would be out for at least two weeks. While the team has expressed optimism that he’ll be back before the playoffs, his regular-season absence could lead to a sharp decline in the standings. Since his injury, the Warriors have lost six of seven and still have meetings with the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz before his re-evaluation date.

If the Warriors continue to falter, rest assured that Doncic will be there to usurp their spot at No. 3. The Mavericks have been playing some of their best basketball in recent months, going 17-6 since Feb. 4. An incredibly favorable final schedule could also boost Dallas’ pursuit of the No. 3 seed. Of their last seven games, only two are against teams above .500.

The No. 5 Utah Jazz and No. 6 Denver Nuggets are close behind Dallas, although the Jazz are in the midst of a four-game losing streak with games coming up against the Los Angeles Clippers, Lakers, Warriors, Grizzlies, and Suns. Utah will need a sharp turnaround if it wants to give the Mavericks a scare with home-court advantage in the first round on the line,

With six games left – only one of which is against an opponent in the top-six of their conference – the Nuggets and Most Valuable Player-hopeful Nikola Jokic can make a real push to overtake Dallas or Utah. Denver’s most crucial game comes on April 1 against the No. 7-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves. With a two-game lead, a win Friday night would all but guarantee the Nuggets hold onto No. 6 at a minimum.

On the other side of the coin, the Timberwolves see that game as an opportunity to steal a playoff spot. The Nuggets matchup represents their final chance to escape the Play-In Tournament with only six games left. If Minnesota stalls at No. 7, it’ll face the Clippers, who are almost certainly a lock to finish as the No. 8 seed.

The final piece of intrigue comes at the very bottom of the Western Conference postseason picture. The Pelicans and Lakers sit just a half-game apart at the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds. After defeating the Lakers in comeback fashion on Sunday night, the Pelicans clinched the tiebreaker with L.A. and the upper hand in the season’s final weeks.

And while the Pelicans have been playing well when healthy, the Lakers have been one of the league’s least consistent teams. Since the All-Star break, their 4-12 record has dropped them to No. 10, in danger of missing the postseason outright. Considering their gauntlet of a closing schedule, the Lakers may be in trouble with six of their final eight games against top-six teams in the Western Conference.

The San Antonio Spurs – who also hold a tiebreaker with L.A. – are just a half-game back, and head coach Gregg Popovich would undoubtedly take pride in personally knocking LeBron James and the Lakers out of the playoff picture.

So while there aren’t as many opportunities for movement in the West as there are in the East, both conferences will bring the drama over the last couple of weeks with plenty of chances for teams to rise and fall in preparation for the postseason.