The current playoff outlook for the Suns

With five regular season games remaining, the Phoenix Suns are finally up to full strength as they head down the home stretch leading to the playoffs. At worst, they have already clinched the 10th spot and a play-in berth at the minimum. Locking up the 4th seed (and 1st round home court advantage) is currently the goal and they are very close to attaining it.

They are currently in 4th place in the Western Conference with a 1.5 game lead over the Clippers and Warriors. Phoenix already has the tiebreaker over the Warriors and can achieve that against the Clippers by winning their last game of the season against them at home on April 9 (if they need it). If the Suns lose that game and somehow wind up tied with the Clips at the end of the season, the next tiebreaker would come into play and Phoenix is leading LAC in the next few tiebreakers (division record and conference record) which means that LAC must finish the season ahead of the Suns in the standings to get a higher seed. A tie just won’t work for them.

The Suns are at least 3 games ahead of every other team in contention for seeds 4 through 10 and the possibility of anyone else passing them or ending up tied with them in the final standings is remote at best.

Graphic courtesy of PlayoffStatus.com .

The following details what we know regarding the Suns’ possible final playoff seed/position as of today.

Spot #10 - Play-in Tournament

The Suns have already won this spot.

Spot #9 - Play-in Tournament

The Suns win this spot if they win just 1 of their 5 remaining games OR the Timberwolves lose to the Trail Blazers (April 2) OR the Mavericks lose to the Heat (April 1).

Spot #8 - Play-in Tournament

The Suns win this spot if they beat the Thunder (April 2) OR the Timberwolves lose to the Trail Blazers (April 2) and the Mavericks lose to the Heat (April 1).

Spot #7 - Play-in Tournament

The Suns win this spot if they win any 2 of their 5 remaining games OR they beat the Thunder (April 2) and the Clippers lose to the Pelicans (April 1) OR the Suns beat the Thunder (April 2) and Lakers lose to the Rockets (April 2).

6th Seed

No clinching cases yet.

5th Seed

No clinching cases yet.

4th Seed (First Round Home Field Advantage)

The Suns can clinch this spot by winning any 3 of their 5 remaining games.

Seeds 1, 2 and 3

The Suns cannot win seeds 1 or 2 and can only win seed 3 by finishing 5-0 in their last 5 games AND Sacramento finishes 0-5 in their last 5 games.

If the Suns retain the 4th seed, the following details the probabilities for their potential 1st round opponent.

Graphic courtesy of PlayoffStatus.com .

According to Tankathon.com, the Suns currently have the 9th strongest remaining schedule in the West and the 18th strongest in the league.