Lost in the madness that is the NCAA Tournament? I don’t blame you; it’s March. But I’d advise you not to neglect the NBA at this time. The league’s got its own bit of madness brewing here as the regular season hits the home stretch. Some teams rising while others are falling, which has made predicting playoff spots an impossible task. Let’s dive into it.

Receipts are important.

Toward the beginning of the season, when the Kings got off to their usual strong start (that almost always quickly goes left), I argued that this season wasn’t going to be one of those that gets away from them. Instead, I suggested we should be optimistic about Sacramento and its high-end talent, legitimately good and proven head coach and depth that flowed through the back end of the roster. But just before the resumption of regular-season play following All-Star Weekend, yours truly implied it was time to ease up on the aforementioned Kings optimism because, in this end-of-season push, those veteran Western Conference teams which fell below them in the standings would flip the proverbial switch ahead of the postseason while the inexperienced Kings continued to slide.

From my All-Star break column:

“They have been great almost all season long, but they’re just 6-7 over their last 13 games, while the Western Conference teams trailing them all got better at the trade deadline and proceeded to narrow the gap. I haven’t been more skeptical of Sacramento this regular season than I am now, making it hard to believe it could close the season by winning 13 of 25 games.”

Whether or not that pessimistic way of forecasting was merited or not, it was very clearly wrong. An 11-4 stretch later (which includes a 10-5 record against the spread), highlighted by a historic W over the LA Clippers at Crypto.com Arena, Sacramento has its first 40-win season since the 05-06 season and now owns the league’s second-best win percentage since the All-Star break.

The Kings’ success has kept them as the No. 3 seed out West with a realistic chance to move up a spot. The offense continues to be unlike anything we’ve seen before, De’Aaron Fox deserves the inaugural Clutch Player of the Year Award and the beam lighting remains the coolest thing in sports. In other words, all is well in Sacramento. Shoutout to the brave few who bet on the Kings to win the Pacific Division this year. Enjoy that payout.

🗣 15 GAMES OVER .500

LIGHT THE BEAM 🔦🟣 pic.twitter.com/0sfa05ASn8

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 17, 2023

The race for the Eastern Conference Play-In, feat. the Chicago Bulls

As the race out West to avoid the Play-In Tournament will likely end in a nail-biter, the race to get into the Eastern Conference’s Play-In Tournament is rather juicy and, dare I say, fascinating. Let me explain:

A 2-8 stretch for the Washington Wizards has made their postseason chances increasingly less favorable. The door seemed to be closing on the Indiana Pacers following a nasty 2-16 period when Tyrese Haliburton was injured, but they’ve managed to hang around thanks to an above-.500 record over their last 15 games. And Miami, the current No. 7 seed, should be safe and might actually leap into the top six by game No. 82.

The point is this: seeds 8-10 feel up for grabs for about four or five teams as the regular season nears its end. Yet, I’ve become most intrigued by the Chicago Bulls.

Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament race

Standings through games of March 22

While Sacramento’s post-All-Star-break record is the second-best in the league, quietly, the Chicago Bulls aren’t far off. With an 8-5 record over that time, Chicago has put itself in a realistic position to work its way up to the eighth seed, strengthening its shot at surviving the Play-In Tournament to secure a spot in the playoffs. The Bulls were favored in six of those 13 games, but also managed impressive road wins at Denver and Philadelphia. The win in Philly was the first time the Bulls beat Joel Embiid in his career after 12 straight losses.

But how did this happen? It could be as simple as Zach LaVine upping his level of play. Some might point to the hometown kid Patrick Beverley arriving and turning into the battery that’s energized and recharged a Bulls team that seemed to be out of juice. But what I land on is the Bulls’ defense, which is shockingly (to me) rated the fifth-best in the NBA.

Even without the services of the injured Lonzo Ball, Chicago’s defense has done the heavy lifting throughout the season while the offense has inexplicably struggled. Typing such a sentence feels strange — a team led by a core of LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević had offensive issues but not defensive? Anyways, now that their offense has come around, I could see the Bulls being that annoying first-round opponent for someone should they sneak into the playoffs. It would be fun.

Things are about to get nutty

The Oklahoma City Thunder, which entered Thursday as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, are a game back in the loss column of the LA Clippers, currently holding the No. 5 seed. The Thunder do own the tiebreaker ahead of the fourth and final regular-season matchup between the two teams on Thursday night. Oh, also, Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets get to face Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks and Embiid’s 76ers in the coming days, which will surely spark further MVP discourse.

Whoever wrote the script for this NBA season is a genius! Jokes aside, the league couldn’t possibly be more thrilled with how things are setting up as we round third and get ready to head to home plate this regular season.

(Photo of De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)