The mathematics behind the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference are starting to become clear. 

The Milwaukee Bucks are two games behind the eighth-place New York Knicks overall, but Milwaukee is only one game back of New York in the loss column of the Eastern Conference records of the two clubs.  This is the second and possibly decisive tiebreaker since the teams have split their season series 2-2.

For either team, the only Western Conference opponent remaining is the Los Angeles Clippers, who play at Madison Square Garden on April 25 in the second-to-last game on New York's schedule.

Therefore, if the Bucks were to gain exactly two games on the Knicks overall through the end of the regular season -- meaning both teams finish with the exact same record -- the only way that the Bucks will not win the the second tiebreaker against the Knicks is if one of the Knicks' losses is to the Clippers.  Any other defeat of New York would be at the hands of an Eastern Conference club and give Milwaukee the superior conference record.

If the Bucks and Knicks were to finish with the exact same Eastern Conference records, New York has already clinched ownership of the third tiebreaker against Milwaukee (record versus playoff-eligible teams in the conference).

Meanwhile, the Knicks are only one game behind the Philadelphia 76ers who sit in seventh place, and New York owns the 2-1 season series tiebreaker.  The Bucks are three games behind the Sixers, with their season series tied 1-1 and a head-to-head game looming in Milwaukee on April 25.