Heat playoff picture determined tonight

The Heat have already locked up the #2 seed on April 14th against the 76ers (while I was in attendance) - which means that they will have home court advantage guranteed for the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Who the Heat will play, still remains to be seen.

Right now, the 4 candidates are the Washington Wizards (41-40), the Chicago Bulls (40-41), the Milwaukee Bucks (40-42) and the Indiana Pacers (40-41).

The Bucks are done, losing to the Wizards on Tuesday killed their chances of leapfrogging up to the #5 seed and a date with Lebron's Cavs. Was that a good move for the Bucks?

Yet, the Wizards, the Bulls and the Pacers all still have one game to play.

Since the Heat are the #2 seed, they will be paired off with the #7 seed - as of right now, that is Chicago.

There remains 8 total possibilities to be played out. The Wizards are at Detroit, the Bulls host the Raptors and the Pacers host the hot Magic. All three teams have something to play for - their seeding and their 1st round opponent. Their opponents tonight do not: Raptors and Magic play for pride (and I suspect the Magic will come to play because of their youth and Coach Hill) while the Pistons will most likely play their 'bench' and rest their starters (their reserves can finally shake off those seat marks on the back of their legs).

Here are the head to head records:
Bulls vs. Bucks 2-2 (favors Bucks)
Bulls vs. Wizards 3-1 (favors Bulls)
Bulls vs. Pacers 2-2 (favors Bulls)
Pacers vs. Bucks 2-2 (favors Bucks)
Pacers vs. Wizards 2-3 (favors Wizards)

Of all these scenarios, only the Bulls, Bucks and Pacers have the potential to end up with the same record of 40-42 while only the Bulls, Pacers and Wizards could end up with the same record of 41-41.

If the Wizards win at Detroit, they end up 42-40 and lock up their spot at #5, and that leaves the Pacers and Bulls (both 41-41) to round out the #6 and #7 spots, with the Bulls landing the Heat in the first round (based on head to head tiebreaker).

If the Wizards lose, they end up in a tie (record wise) with the Bulls and Pacers - who must win their games in order to post a 41-41 record. If the Wizards and Pacers tie, based on head to head, Wizards get the 5, Pacers the 6 and the Bulls #7 and the Heat.

If the Bulls and the Wizards tie (41-41), the Bulls get the 5, the Wizards the 6 and the Pacers get the #8 (40-42) while the Bucks get the #7 (since they have a tie-breaker over both the Bulls and Pacers).

If the Pacers and Wizards tie, the Pacers get #5 while the Wiz get the #6 and the Bucks get the seventh seed and the Bulls the #8.

Whew!! So, it depends on what the Wizards do first in order to set things straight and they seem to have the most control over their destiny at this point.

Of the remaining possibilities, 4 have the Heat facing the Bucks, 2 have the Heat taking on the Pacers, and one for the Wizards and one for the Bulls.

Aww heck, let's just sit back and let it be sorted out on its own!