Who wants final two Eastern Conference playoff spots?

On Friday, the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets owned the seventh and eighth seeds in the Eastern Conference. On Saturday, the Hornets and Indiana Pacers were in seventh and eighth place. By Sunday morning, the Heat had leapfrogged the Hornets and were tied with the Pacers in the final two seeds, only to have the Hornets leap back into seventh Sunday night.

Like a bank of elevators in a parking garage, teams go up and teams move down in the race for the seventh and eighth seeds.

Six teams — the Heat, Hornets, Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons — are competing for the final two playoffs spots in the East. Entering Monday, 5½ games separated those teams, with just three games separating five of them.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see any of those six teams come out of it," said Pacers coach Frank Vogel, whose team has won 12 of its past 16 games, including five consecutive and might be playing the best out of the mediocre bunch.

With 5½ weeks left in the regular season, it's an oddly compelling race for the last two playoff spots. It also has steered the conversation toward the idea of a revised playoff format. None of those six East teams have a winning record, and there is a chorus crooning for a 16-team playoff that would exclude teams under .500 even if it meant one conference had more playoff teams than the other.

But the NBA is not ready for that just yet, and Commissioner Adam Silver said any change in the playoff format wouldn't happen until 2016-17 at the earliest, and he wants the league's competition committee — comprised of coaches and executives — to examine the possibilities and the potential impact.

Until then, the East is going to send two sub-.500 teams to playoffs unless one or two teams go on an impressive run and win about 65%-70% of their remaining games.

Vogel makes a case for any of the six teams.

"A lot of these teams are hitting their stride the same way we are," he said. "Miami picking up (Goran) Dragic, the way Charlotte's been playing. Brooklyn seems to be who everyone thought they we were going to be on paper at the start of the season, and that's who they are now. Obviously, (Celtics coach) Brad Stevens is doing a great job and (Pistons coach) Stan Van Gundy is doing a great job."

The Pistons are five games behind the Pacers and Heat, who both are 28-34 and occupy the seventh and eighth seeds. Short on playoff experience, Detroit has the toughest climb to a playoff spot.

Just two weeks ago, the Pistons were just 1½ games out of the eighth spot, but a six-game losing streak damaged their chances.

The Celtics don't have a ton of playoff experience either, but they have won eight of their past 14, including five of eight. That coincides with the arrival of point guard Isaiah Thomas, whom Boston acquired on trade deadline deal. Thomas is averaging 21.0 points and 5.6 assists and getting to the foul line about seven times per game.

Brooklyn, Miami, Charlotte and Indiana probably have the best chances to reach the playoffs. They all made the playoffs last season and have players who were a valuable part of that success.

Injuries have accounted for the lack of success at times for some of the teams, too. The Nets were without Deron Williams and Brook Lopez for stretches, and Mirza Teletovic is out for the remainder of the season. Dwyane Wade was in and out of the lineup for Miami, and Chris Bosh's pulmonary embolism ended his season.

Charlotte's Kemba Walker, Al Jefferson and Bismack Biyombo were sidelined, and the Hornets are awaiting Walker's return. Indiana's George Hill, Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Watson missed games, and Paul George hasn't played all season.

There is a chance George returns before the end of the regular season, and that would give the Pacers a huge lift. But Vogel isn't counting on it nor is he into daily speculation.

"He's not at full strength but he is going through full practices without any restrictions," Vogel said. "He's still got a number of hurdles to get past before he's able to play in games. We're hopeful that can happen this season, but it's not a certainty."

Regardless of what George does, Vogel wants the Pacers to stick to what they've done best the past few seasons: solid defense. The Pacers are a top-10 defense, allowing 100.3 points per 100 possessions. In the past two months, they have moved into the top 5, and Vogel wants them to be the league's best in the final 20 games

Add decent offense, which the Pacers have had recently, and Vogel says, "We're playing confident basketball right now and we feel like we've got a good shot at it."

Like the Pacers, the Hornets are top-10 defense and since Jan. 1, they've allowed 95.6 points per 100 possessions, for best in the NBA.

"We're going to have to continue to be good defensively, a good rebounding team and then find ways to improve offensive, which will give us more balance and consistent play," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said.

He's honest about the first two months of the season. "Early in the year quite frankly we weren't good at anything," Clifford said. "We were in the bottom six in the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency and over the last 20 games, we've had the best defensive efficiency and we've been one of the best defensive rebounding teams.

"We've found a way that we can play which allows us to be more consistent. Defend, rebound and be low turnover. If you do those things, you're going to have a chance to win."

Like Thomas for the Celtics, veteran guard Mo Williams, also acquired at the trade deadline, has injected offense into the Hornets. In eight games with Charlotte, Williams is averaging 21.8 points and 8.6 assists.

"He's given us a big, big shot in the arm, and he's come in and picked things up really, really quickly," Clifford said. "He's a veteran who's obviously played in a lot of big games. He's very bright and gets our team organized and he's a very good pick-and-roll player. We've still played really good defense with him, and our offense has been much better."

Jefferson and Biyombo are back in the lineup, and Walker could return mid-week.

"The two key things for us, which will ultimately determine how well we finish will be how well we integrate Kemba Walker back with Mo when Kemba comes back from his injury," Clifford said. "Also, can Bismack get back to the high level of play that he was at before his injury?"

The Heat were ready to make a big playoff push, acquiring point guard Goran Dragic at the trade deadline. Then, they learned Bosh would miss the rest of the season with blood clots in his lung.

"This is finally the group we feel we can move forward with for the rest of the season," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "Up to this point, there's been a lot of changes and obviously the big news with Chris. But now we've had a little bit of time to wrap our minds around it. The guys are able to focus on the goal of the playoffs and we're gaining a little bit more comfort with each other. … We're starting to feel this is the most stability we've had all season."

And who would've guessed this rotation at the start of the year, of Dragic, Wade, Luol Deng, Udonis Haslem, Hassan Whiteside, Mario Chalmers, Chris Andersen, Henry Walker, Michael Beasley, Tyler Johnson? Even without Bosh, it's a roster with guys have who played in important regular-season and postseason games.

"The two things that were asked of our team this year are don't feel sorry for yourself and don't make excuses," Spoelstra said. "If we do that and continue to work to find solutions together, we can do something special. I commend our guys for the work ethic and the consistent commitment every single day. It's hard-working, lunch-pail attitude type team."