PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - Rarely has the home stretch of an NBA regular season been so crazy.

The last ditch fight for eighth pace in both conferences is going to the wire with the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans tied in the West with two games to go and the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers fighting for survival hoping to not be the last man out in the East.

If OKC and the Pelicans finish in a tie, Anthony Davis' team possesses the tie-break having won three of four games against the Thunder. The OKC loss Sunday night was symbolic of their season with Russell Westbrook obliged to score a career-high 54 points to keep his team in the game because Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka are out with injuries.

As with most of us, Westbrook's biggest quality is also his biggest weakness. He has the burning desire and raw talent of a young Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant who feels he can do it all by himself but, too often, he forces very bad shots in the money time and he might even be suspended for Monday night's crucial game against the Portland Trail Blazers because of a silly, late technical foul on Sunday. He's out of control but his amazing inner fire is highly-respected throughout the NBA because he never let's up!

In the Eastern Conference, Boston and Brooklyn hold the best cards with two games to go but Indiana have won five games in a row and can't be discounted. The Celtics got a helping hand Sunday night from the Cleveland Cavaliers who sat LeBron James and Kyrie Irving and let themselves get blown out. This being said, the Celtics deserve to be in the playoffs because at the beginning of the season their roster looked almost as weak as that of the Philadelphia 76ers but instead of just rebuilding they played great team ball all season long to the point where they are in seventh place right now.

Brad Stevens, their excellent young coach, proves that college coaches CAN make great NBA coaches. Boston play like the Atlanta Hawks with a less talented roster! They are similar to the Milwaukee Bucks, the worst team in the league last season before making the best turnaround in this current campaign by winning 25 more games and finishing sixth. The Bucks and their highly-international roster deserve their miracle spot in the playoffs, too.

If you think the situation concerning the eighth spot in both conferences is complex, how about the fight for second place in the West?

Winning their last 11 games in a row, the defending champions San Antonio Spurs seem destined to grab second place and no one wants to play them in the first round, especially not the Dallas Mavericks and their porous defense.

The Los Angeles Clippers are also finishing strong winning 12 of their last 13, and no one wants to play this hot team either!

The Memphis Grizzlies, on the other hand, are limping into the playoffs with only five wins in their last 10 and their star, Marc Gasol, nursing a sprained ankle.

Portland have had a nice, under-the-radar type season despite numerous injuries to key players but they won't have homecourt advantage in the first round despite winning their division.

The Houston Rockets seems a better bet to reach the second round than Memphis and Portland, unless of course, Memphis and Portland play each other in the first round.

When the dust settles, a Golden State Warriors-San Antonio match-up in the Western Conference Finals seems probable and attractive.

The old, battle-tested champs against the best team in the regular season with Coach of the Year, rookie Steve Kerr, masterfully managing the future MVP, Stephen Curry, and the most potent uptempo, three-point shooting offense in the league. The wily veterans against the upstart young bucks who built their success using the Spurs as one of their models.

The same question goes for the Hawks, who are the Spurs of the East. Can they transform immensely surprising success in the regular season into a deep playoff run?

The Hawks and the Warriors play good team defense and that should make up for a lack of playoff experience.

I'm sure the Hawks would rather play Cleveland or the Chicago Bulls as late as possible and they are hoping to see the Toronto Raptors finish fourth. This way the Cavs and the Bulls could beat each other up in the second round and when you see the continuing in-enmity between LeBron and Joakim Noah, that would be a rough, in your face, battle!

If Atlanta face Cleveland or Chicago in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals or Finals, my pick will not be Atlanta because Paul Millsap has an injured shoulder and their best defensive stopper, Thabo Sefolosha, broke his ankle in a 4am night club incident with the police in New York. How he and Pero Antic could be out that late before a game the next day is beyond my comprehension.

I admit that there are a lot of 'ifs, ands or buts' regarding these differents playoff scenarios but in the end I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed to see LeBron and his new team coached by a coach from Europe, David Blatt, in a revenge match with the Spurs "United Nations team" in the NBA Finals.

George Eddy

FIBA

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