NBA Standings 2019: Warriors Have Slim Lead In West, Bucks Cruising Ahead Of Raptors For Top Record

The 2019 NBA playoffs are almost two weeks away, and the Golden State Warriors (51-23) are in a serious battle for postseason seeding. The back-to-back defending champions won't finish with the best record in basketball, and they are far from a guarantee to land the top seed in the Western Conference.

Golden State's victory over the Memphis Grizzlies (30-45) Wednesday night was an important one since it put the team a half-game ahead of the Denver Nuggets (50-23) for the West’s No.1 seed. The Warriors have beaten the Nuggets twice in three tries this season, and their final regular-season meeting next week might ultimately determine which team secures home-court advantage throughout the West playoffs.

The No.3 seed Portland Trail Blazers (47-27) and No.4 seed Houston Rockets (47-28) don't have much of a chance to catch Golden State or Denver.

Maybe if the Warriors meet the Toronto Raptors (52-23) in the NBA Finals they will have home-court advantage, but that certainly wouldn't be the case in a matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks (56-19). Milwaukee is running away with the NBA's best record. The Bucks have a comfortable four-game lead over the Raptors for the No.1 seed in the East.

The Philadelphia 76ers (47-27) are considered to be a real threat to make the NBA Finals, and some believe the Boston Celtics (44-31) still have a chance to make a deep run. Golden State is comfortably ahead of both teams in the overall standings.

During their stretch of four straight appearances in the NBA Finals, the Warriors have always had home-court advantage once they made it out of the West. Golden State has won at least 50 games in five straight years.

The only time LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers had the East’s No.1 seed in their last run was in 2016 when they upset the Warriors in the Finals.