We're into the second half of the 2018-19 season and things remain wide open in the Western Conference. And things have become a little more interesting in the Eastern Conference, where teams 9-11 in the standings have shown some signs of life.

The ninth-place Orlando Magic had lost nine of their previous 12 games before sweeping a home-and-home back-to-back against the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets over the weekend. The 10th-place Detroit Pistons had lost 16 of 20 before Blake Griffin took revenge on the Clippers on Saturday. The 11th-place Washington Wizards, meanwhile, have beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks in the last eight days, and almost knocked off the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Which teams are primed to make a late-season playoff push?

The West has remained dominant. Its winning percentage in interconference games (.587) is its second highest in the last 15 years, and the 11th-place Minnesota Timberwolves have a better record (against a tougher schedule) than the team (Brooklyn) that sits in seventh place in the East. But that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy a little drama for those last few playoff spots in the weaker conference.

And it's not that weak at the top, where the Toronto Raptors sit with a five-game winning streak in hand and a big game in Boston this week.