With a playoff spot all but locked up, the Oklahoma City Thunder can start focusing on playoff seeding.
Entering Monday with a 37-23 record, the Thunder are just half a game behind the fifth-placed Utah Jazz. However, Oklahoma City is also just half a spot above the seventh seed.
With such a slim margin between five and seven, the Thunder need to win all they can to get a more favorable first-round opponent.
The Los Angeles Lakers are currently atop the Western Conference standings by a healthy 5.5-game margin over the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers, who are tied for second.
The Houston Rockets sit comfortably in fourth place, two games ahead of the floundering Utah Jazz.
Behind the Rockets are the Jazz, Thunder, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies, in that order.
Here are the five most important games on the Thunder schedule the rest of the season.