SAN DIEGO, CA.- The NBA will close out its regular season today with 15 games, in which the highlight will be the ferocious battle between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

The Lakers (44-37) and Jazz (43-38) are looking for the final playoff ticket in the West, where Oklahoma Thunder has already won the division. While the returning champions Miami Heat has also won their division in the East.

Los Angeles will be closing out the regular season and looking for the playoff ticket when they face the Huston Rockets. The Utah Jazz meanwhile will be facing Menphis in their search of the playoffs.

Huston who already has their playoff ticket in hand will be looking to avoid defeat against the Californian team. Huston currently sits in seventh place and a loss to the Lakers would mean the LA squad would overtake the Texans and send them to eighth.

In this the final day, there will be some teams looking to improve on their standings in spite of having their playoff ticket in hand. In order to avoid strong squads like the fore mentioned Miami Heat and Oklahoma Thunder.

In the East the New York Knicks have second place locked down, third and fourth place also already have owners in Indiana and Brooklyn. The fifth spot is up for grabs between Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks. The Bulls will face Washington while the Hawks will paly against Brooklyn tonight. Seventh place will go to the Boston Celtics and the eight spot will go to Milwaukee who will finish with a losing record (37-44)

Out in the West, San Antonio will have a comfortable position in second place. The third place spot is in dispute between Denver, Clippers, and Memphis. Denver and Clippers will face off against Phoenix and Sacramento respectfully tonight. Sixth place is also up for grabs between Golden State and Huston. Huston could finish as low as eighth place tough.

Everything will be decided tonight in the final day of the NBA regular season. The only "set in stone" playoff match ups for now are Miami Heat against Milwaukee and New York Knicks against Boston Celtics.

editorial@sandiegored.com