A pair of NBA teams that had been struggling have moved their way up the standings into the latest playoff picture. The New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers are the No. 6 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference, respectively.

The Knicks extended their winning streak to five games Wednesday night, holding off the Chicago Bulls 128-120 in overtime. The Clippers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 99-88 for their third straight victory.

New York is in the midst of a somewhat unexpected turnaround. The Knicks were 10-13 on Dec. 3. With a pair of games scheduled against East playoff contenders, there was speculation that Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau might soon lose his job.

Instead of falling even further down the standings, the Knicks have used a stingy defense, a trademark of Thibodeau's teams, to grab one of the conference's top six playoff spots. New York limited the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks to 170 points total in back-to-back wins. After beating the Charlotte Hornets 121-102, the Knicks held the Sacramento Kings' top-five offense to 99 points.

The Knicks are up to 12th in defensive rating for the 2022-23 season. During the five-game winning streak, New York's 98.8 defensive rating is the best in the league.

Julius Randle leads the Knicks with 22.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Jalen Brunson is living up to the $104 million contract that he signed in free agency, averaging 20.4 points and 6.3 assists per game.

Only two losses separated the Knicks and the No. 3 seed Cavaliers. New York is two games ahead of the Toronto Raptors for the No. 10 seed and the final spot in the play-in tournament.

There's even less separation in the West standings, where the Clippers can easily move either up or down a few spots. Los Angeles is only 2.5 games behind the New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies, which are tied for the best record in the conference. The Timberwolves are out of the playoff picture as the No. 11 seed, and they only have two more losses than the Clippers.

The Clippers' resurgence directly coincides with Kawhi Leonard's return as a full-time player. Leonard only played five games in the season's first month and a half because of issues with his knee and ankle. The 2019 NBA Finals MVP is averaging 13.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 10 games.

Leonard's best game of the season came Monday in an impressive 113-93 win over the Boston Celtics. Leonard scored 25 points on just 12 field goal attempts, in addition to recording nine rebounds and six assists. The Celtics have the league's best record and No. 1 rated offense.

Paul George leads the Clippers with 23.5 points per game. Los Angeles has the No. 4 rated defense.

At the start of the season, the betting odds suggested that the Clippers were the biggest threat to the defending champion Golden State Warriors in the West.

Julius Randle, New York Knicks
Julius Randle #30 of the New York Knicks celebrates during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center on November 08, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images