SALT LAKE CITY — While the Eastern Conference playoff standings are officially locked up, the Western Conference is still embroiled in battles for position, and the San Antonio Spurs, who have made 22 consecutive playoff appearances with Gregg Popovich at the helm, are going to need a lot of help to even have a shot at making it this time around.
Since the eighth and ninth seeds in the West will have less than four games separating them in the standings, there will be a play-in tournament in which the eighth and ninth seeds will play each other to decide the final playoff spot in the conference.