NBA: As the post-All-Star push begins, here’s a closer look at the playoff races

Western Conference 4 seed

Portland Trail Blazers: 34-23, 9 home/16 away, .493 (17th in the NBA)

Houston Rockets: 33-24, 12 home/13 away, .502 (15th in the NBA)

Utah Jazz: 32-25, 13 home/12 away, .452 (29th in the NBA)

San Antonio Spurs: 33-26, 12 home/11 away, .488 (19th in the NBA)

The biggest playoff race in the West is between teams that are between fourth and seventh in the conference. The Portland Trail Blazers have been a top four team in the West for most of the season, but they have the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz coming up on them quickly. Portland has a top 5 offense is the NBA but their defense has been struggling after being in the top 10 earlier in the season. The Trail Blazers could use the home-court in round one as they 24-8 at home this season which is second best in the West.

The Jazz and Rockets had disastrous starts to the season. The Rockets struggled out the gate and then have injuries to Chris Paul and Clint Capela while the Jazz had a excellent defense but struggled most nights to find the offense to help it. At one point earlier in the year the Jazz and Rockets were among the worst in the Western Conference, record-wise. Now they both are battling for home-court as the Rockets are one game back and the Jazz two of the Trail Blazers.

The San Antonio Spurs were thought to be in trouble this season as it didn’t appear on paper to be one of the eight best teams in the West. However, Head Coach Gregg Popovich has shown everyone why you should never doubt his teams. The Spurs should make the playoffs barring a collapse but I’m sure San Antonio would prefer to avoid playing the Golden State Warriors or Denver Nuggets in the first round.