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Rating the Eastern Conference playoff contenders

The Celtics and Pacers are in a tough race with the four other teams for spots in the playoffs. AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

The race for the Eastern Conference playoffs is starting to take shape, though nothing has been decided yet.

The Cleveland Cavaliers come the closest to a sure thing to make the playoffs, with better than a 99 percent chance, according to the playoff projections from ESPN's Basketball Power Index.

In all, four teams have a better than 90 percent chance of making the playoffs: the Cavs, Toronto Raptors (99 percent chance), Miami Heat (98 percent) and Atlanta Hawks (96 percent).

That leaves four open spots, and there are six teams that have a reasonably good shot of grabbing one.