The NBA playoff race is now approaching. After the All-Star break, many NBA teams have mustered up the effort to compete for the league's 16 postseason spots. Normally, there isn't much competition among the NBA's top teams, but that hasn't been the case this year. In the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors are competing to the top seed in the conference. In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors are slugging it out for the coveted #1 spot.

Basketball Reference, a leading sports statistic database, just released their predictions for the seeding of this year's playoffs. Regardless of who you are rooting for to win the championship this year, it's definitely worth a look.

Before anything further is discussed, the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers will not be making the postseason this year. These teams simply are too far behind to make a surprise comeback. Apparently, Basketball Reference believes that the Nuggets will take the eight playoff spot from the Clippers. That was a debatable choice, but it's a valid one. More importantly, Basketball Reference believes that the Warriors will eventually take the best record in the Western Conference.

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Rightfully so, the Warriors have four All-Stars to rely on to get them through the regular season, and they have looked focused since the All-Star break, even getting an impressive win over the Thunder. The Rockets have to continually rely on their MVP candidate James Harden for them to win as much games as possible moving forward. This could cause strain on him, and the Rockets could opt to rest him.

As for the rest of the seeding, don't count of these predictions being accurate. It appears that the Western Conference standings are fluctuating everyday for the seeds 3-9.