About two weeks from now, the NBA playoffs will start in what has been a very tightly contested season in both conferences. We have not seen any 70 win teams like 2 years ago, and the conference races have been tighter than in years previous. Seven playoff spots have been locked down as of Monday, with the remaining spots likely being unclaimed until the final few games of the season.

Starting in the Eastern Conference, which has been much less contested than the West, the Toronto Raptors have been the team to beat. With an 11 game win streak and dominant performances from guards Demar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, the Raptors have opened a 3.5 game lead over the Boston Celtics.

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The Celtics have held in at second, despite missing their starting shooting guard Gordon Hayward for the entire season. Kyrie Irving is about to undergo minimally invasive knee surgery to repair a tension wire, which was placed to repair a tendon in his knee after an injury from two years prior. The removal of the wire is said to ease pain, and his knee is completely healed, according to the Celtics. Irving is expected to miss the rest of the regular season, but is anticipated to be back for part of the playoffs, possibly the end of Boston’s first playoff series. Boston is also eligible for an emergency roster spot, should they ask for it, given they have four players, who have all missed three consecutive games and are expected to miss at least two weeks. And while Boston has played with a considerable number of rookies, they have locked up their spot, for the most part, in the east and have won four of their last five, as of Monday afternoon.

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Cleveland has locked up a playoff spot and currently sit in third on the back of new life being brought to the team after their moved at the trade deadline. LeBron James is also on pace to play all 82 games of the season for the first time in his career. And while Cleveland cannot catch Toronto, they are in position to make a deep run into the playoffs. The Philadelphia 76ers and the Indiana Pacers also locked down their spots for the playoffs, leaving three spots remaining in the east. Both Detroit and Charlotte are still eligible to make the playoffs, but they are five and a half and six games back, respectively, of the eighth seed. With only nine and eight games remaining, respectively, these teams are fighting an uphill battle to the end. The Wizards, Bucks and Heat currently occupy the last three playoff spots in the east.

In the Western Conference, the race has been much tighter, with one and a half games separating the fourth and eighth seeds. The Houston Rockets, led by MVP front runner James Harden and star guard Chris Paul, have all but locked down the Western Conference with an NBA leading 60 wins. They are five and a half games ahead of the Warriors, but with the Warriors heavily injured, and the Rockets on the verge of their third ten game win streak of the year, the Rockets could clinch the top spot of the west by the end of the week.

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Portland, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, San Antonio and Utah are all tightly locked for spots and fighting for seeding, but the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers are both within two and a half games of the eighth seeded Utah Jazz. Portland currently leads the Northwest Division, which currently has four teams holding playoff spots, and after Damian Lillard returns from being on standby waiting for the birth of his child, the Trail Blazers can return to being one of the hottest teams in the NBA, having a 13 game win streak that started before the All Star Break.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder have the second toughest remaining schedule, according to ESPN, playing five of their seven remaining games against potential playoff teams. They also play Denver, the first team on the outside looking in. New Orleans, on the other hand, has thrived under Anthony Davis, despite missing DeMarcus Cousins, potentially making the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

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San Antonio dropped 11 of 14 games and looked as though they may miss the postseason for the first time in over twenty years, still they currently sit in sixth. Minnesota has a relatively easy path remaining, mainly playing teams who have losing records, but they do play Denver twice and Utah once, games that will likely prove critical to who makes the playoffs. Utah has a very similar schedule to Oklahoma City, playing five of it’s eight remaining games against teams that are in the playoff hunt. The west is heating up with two weeks remaining and there are plenty of games remaining that can change the teams that make the playoffs.