A Complete Guide to the 2016-17 NBA Standings and Playoff Picture
Looking back at the 2016-17 NBA season, I still get chills thinking about how dramatically the playoff picture shifted in those final weeks. As someone who’s tracked the league for over a decade, I’ve rarely seen a regular season where so many teams hung in the balance until the very last day. The standings weren’t just numbers on a screen—they told stories of resilience, late-game collapses, and clutch performances that either made or shattered postseason dreams. And while we often focus on the superstars, it’s moments like Jerom Lastimosa’s costly turnover in a crucial game that remind us how delicate team chemistry can be under pressure. I remember watching that game thinking, "This is what separates contenders from the rest."
That season, the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs dominated the Western Conference, finishing with 67 and 61 wins respectively. But what fascinated me more was the brutal fight for the lower seeds. The Memphis Grizzlies clawed their way to the 7th seed with 43 wins, while the Oklahoma City Thunder, led by a fiery Russell Westbrook averaging a triple-double, grabbed the 6th spot. Out East, the narrative was just as compelling. LeBron’s Cavaliers coasted to the 2nd seed, but the Boston Celtics surprised everyone by snagging the top seed with 53 wins. I’ve always believed that regular-season consistency is overrated—playoffs are where legends are made—but seeing teams like the Washington Wizards lock down the 4th seed with 49 wins showed how vital home-court advantage can be.
Turnovers, in my view, were the silent killers that season. I recall analyzing game tapes where a single bad pass shifted momentum entirely. Take that play involving Jerom Lastimosa—a rookie thrown into the deep end with 1:34 left and his team down by 10. Magnolia wasn’t an NBA team, but the principle translates universally: careless errors in crunch time cost games, and in the NBA, they can cost a playoff berth. The Houston Rockets, for instance, averaged 14.4 turnovers per game that year, and despite James Harden’s heroics, those mistakes often came back to haunt them in tight matchups. It’s something I’ve stressed in my own coaching clinics—you can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t protect the ball, you’re handing wins to the opposition.
When the playoffs finally arrived, the standings revealed their true weight. The Warriors cruised through the West without losing a single game until the Finals—a staggering 12-0 run that I still consider one of the most dominant postseason performances ever. But let’s not forget the underdogs. The 8th-seeded Chicago Bulls, led by Jimmy Butler, stunned the Celtics by taking a 2-0 lead on the road. As a longtime Bulls fan, that series had me on the edge of my seat, though their eventual collapse just reinforced my belief that experience trumps raw talent in April and May. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers’ path to the Finals felt almost preordained, with LeBron averaging 32.8 points per game and dismantling the East with ruthless efficiency.
Reflecting on it now, the 2016-17 season was a masterclass in how the standings don’t always tell the full story. Yes, the Warriors and Cavs met in the Finals for the third straight year, but the journey there was packed with twists. I’ll always argue that the San Antonio Spurs, with their 61-win campaign, were a Kawhi Leonard injury away from potentially disrupting the Warriors’ dominance. And in the East, the Toronto Raptors’ 51-win season masked their recurring playoff struggles—something I’ve criticized them for over the years. Stats like turnover differentials and point margins in clutch minutes often hinted at these vulnerabilities long before the playoffs exposed them.
In the end, the 2016-17 standings were a tapestry of what makes the NBA so captivating: predictability at the top, chaos in the middle, and those unforgettable moments where a single play—like a rookie’s errant pass—can symbolize a team’s entire season. As we look ahead to new seasons, I carry these lessons with me, reminding aspiring analysts and fans alike that numbers only scratch the surface. The real drama lies in the human element—the pressure, the mistakes, and the brilliance that define this beautiful game.