Although with all the hype surrounding the top tier of the Western Conference a lot of the media has neglected to look at the bottom part of the Western bracket. Many seem too caught up in the fight for the title of “Best in the West” to notice that some of the hardest fought basketball has been being played for the title “Best of the Rest” which is currently experiencing an equally fierce and even tighter struggle for the conference's last three tickets to the post-season.

The teams involved; The Jazz, Blazers, Sonics, Clippers, and Suns, in the race for the Western Conferences bottom seeds are all within five games of each other, the order seemingly changing everyday. So they are neck and neck turning the last corner and coming down the home stretch, but who has the best chance to win the prize?

The Utah Jazz - Without doubt, of the five teams in the race for the last three playoff teams the Jazz are the hottest right now having won eight of their last ten games. Despite a rough start to the season that had many believing father time had finally caught up to the Jazz, the tandem of Stockton and Malone have been winners from day one and can still get the job done as proven by the team's recent resurgence. Along with the ageless duo, one of the biggest contributing factors for the Jazz throughout this season has been the surprisingly strong play of Russian rookie Andrei Kirilenko, averaging ten points five rebounds and almost two blocks per game.

As the season comes to a close the Jazz are preparing themselves for probably the toughest stretch of any of the five teams. Utah’s opponents remaining boast the highest winning percentage of any of the five teams remaining schedules and the Jazz get to start out this drive to the finish with the league's record breaking longest road trip due to the Olympics. These could sound like insurmountable odds for most teams but with the experience of Stockton and Malone one can never discount the Jazz from anything. It is particularly a bad idea to try to count out the Jazz while Jerry Sloan, (possibly the best coach in the league), is the man calling the shots, he will be sure to have the team as always focused and prepared for anything and everything possible.

Jazz Outlook - Current position: 6th in Western Conference, Road games left: 14, Road record: 13-14, Second of back to back games left: 6, Head to head games left (games verses the other four teams): 4, Winning % of remaining opponents: 0.529

The Portland Trailblazers - Many have doubted the Blazers' ability to set aside personal ambitions and egos in order to play together as a team. Often in the past people have been quick to accuse Blazers of selfish basketball, which causes this clearly incredibly talented team to under achieve. But over the last two months the team has been able to shed this image thanks to strong play instigated by the new found respect for head coach Maurice Cheeks. Coach Cheeks has been able to unify the team under one sole cause, gaining the respect of his team as well as star performances throughout the year from Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells, Scottie Pippen, and Damon Stoudamire.

As far as talent is concerned Portland has it in spades, everyone knows this team is loaded for bear and able to compete with the best in league whenever they are able to recall the fact that they are a team. However regardless of how well Cheeks has the team playing he himself is still susceptible to the same rookie coaching errors as Nate McMillan, and it is possible to just plain out coach Cheeks on any given night. Despite the intensity the Blazers are currently playing with the post season will remain an uphill battle as the Blazers face the second worst schedule after the break as far as opponents winning percentages are concerned, as well as the second most road games of the five teams looking for that post season passport.

Blazer Outlook - Current position: 7th in Western Conference, Road games left: 16, Road record: 10 15, Second of back to back games left: 7, Head to head games left: 2, Winning % of remaining opponents: 0.511

The Seattle Supersonics - The Sonics thus far have experienced in many ways an unreliable year. It has been very difficult to tell from night to night which Sonics team will show up as inconsistency has been a major problem. It is hard to say what the Sonics have going for them as it has not yet been possible to evaluate the biggest free agent signing of the Sonics this past year, Calvin Booth. This combined with the recent questions over Vin Baker’s contributions make the Sonics a hard team to judge down the road. However with Gary Payton, again amazingly enough, improving his game and with key contributions from the bench, (especially in rookies Earl Watson and Vladamir Radmanovic), the Sonics appear to be a team on the rise in the Western Conference.

An undeniably huge part of the Sonics' turn of fortunes comes with the guidance of Nate McMillan. Finally the Sonics have a coach that the team can relate to as a person and more importantly respect as a peer who has both seen and done it all in this league. It comes as no surprise to anybody that as goes Gary so go the Sonics, and his respect for coach and friend Nate McMillan has caused Gary to turn over a new leaf, lending more support and leadership to the team than ever before. All of this aside though the key to Seattle’s making the big show lays in the Sonics ability to get in done in games that matter. With six games left against teams fighting for these last playoff spots Seattle’s future seems in its own hands as long as they are able to stand up and take it, as long as Seattle can manage this they have the easiest remaining schedule of the five teams which bodes well for the green and gold.

Sonics Outlook - Current position: 8th in Western Conference, Road games left: 14, Road record: 13 14, Second of back to back games left: 7, Head to head games left: 6, Winning % of remaining opponents: 0.473

The L.A. Clippers - If ever there was a team that needed to make the playoffs it is the L.A. Clippers. For years the name Clippers has been synonymous with pitiable, but this year things are different. The Clippers already had bragging rights over one of the league's next stars in Lamar Odom, but over the summer on draft day the team was able to add Quentin Richardson, Darius Miles, Keyon Dooling, as well as liberating Elton Brand from the Bulls, (NBA purgatory). All of this along with point guard Jeff McInnis coming into his own in the association has made the Clippers an incredibly talented and incredibly exciting team to watch.

The youth movement of the Clippers, (A.K.A. the other L.A. team), may very well be one of the most exciting stories of the NBA this year but the lack of experience will certainly hurt the squad down the stretch. To this point the Clippers have enjoyed a schedule that for the most part has been favourable, but for the remainder of the NBA season things will not be so nice. True the level of their opposition is not very high but the fact is the Clippers have been miserable away from L.A., and for the rest of the season they will spend a great deal of time away from L.A. Like Seattle the best thing the Clips can do is cash in big on their opportunities against their fellow competitors and somehow find a way to keep their L.A. Zen state of mind while touring the East coast.

Clipper Outlook - Current position: 9th in Western Conference, Road games left: 17, Road record: 6 18, Second of back to back games left: 10, Head to head games left: 6, Winning % of remaining opponents: 0.477

The Phoenix Suns - The Suns not that long ago were perennial powerhouses in the Western Conference, oh how the mighty have fallen. Now they find themselves in the rather indignant position of being on the outside and looking in. Over the off-season the Suns made wholesale changes to their roster to show their fans they were moving in the right direction, as of this point in the season that direction has been a lateral move at best. The tandem of Kidd and Hardaway in the backcourt which was supposed to be among the best backcourts ever assembled failed seeing Kidd shipped off to New Jersey. Its replacement as the one of the best backcourts ever Marbury and Hardaway is not shaping up to be much better.

The Suns find themselves reeling after a particularly bad All-star weekend that saw star point guard Stephon Marbury charged for a DUI and coach Scott Skiles removed from his position shortly there after. New head coach Frank Johnson appears to be a wild card for this team making it hard to predict whether the Suns' recent episodes of in-fighting will continue or whether the Suns can find a way to gel as a team and take advantage of their remaining schedule, epitome of mediocre, 29 games. The Suns may seem like a long shot to make it to the big dance but their schedule certainly is not standing in their way, especially if the Suns can take advantage of the well-documented honeymoon period between teams and their new coaches

Suns Outlook - Current position: 10th in Western Conference, Road games left: 15, Road record: 10 15, Second of back to back games left: 8, Head to head games left: 4, Winning % of remaining opponents: 0.506

The last thirty games or so of the NBA regular schedule are sure to be an exciting run for all five of these teams, in which every game will take on a massive importance. But this is what draws people to the NBA, the drama and perseverance against all odds, it makes for great story telling and great entertainment, watching these teams put everything on the line and play their hearts out for a chance at the “real season”. Everyone loves a photo finish, because we are drawn to the majesty of the purity of sport, competition when it is played with the greatest of desire imaginable, and with none of these five teams willing to lie down for one another majesty and excitement is exactly what we all have in store. Win lose or draw this will be a race to be remembered.

* All statistical information includes games up to but not including Feb. 20, 2002-02-21
** Ontario’s personal picks for the finish, Seattle 6th, Portland 7th, Utah 8th, L.A. 9th, Phoenix 10th

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