NBA viewers guide: Biggest matchups, storylines and playoff pushes to watch

Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” became a huge hit for its dramatic storytelling in Formula 1’s midfield, focusing on the teams not involved in the championship chase but under high pressure with huge financial stakes and major names involved.

You could do a similar documentary on the second half of this NBA season — and, not coincidentally, Netflix is filming one with several big-name players on “midfield” teams such as Kevin Durant and James Harden — because the drama is high with the teams fighting to get out of the middle.

Just look at who made the massive moves at the trade deadline. You would not say moves such as the Golden State Warriors getting Jimmy Butler, the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers dealing Luka Dončić and Anthony Davis, or the Sacramento Kings swapping De’Aaron Fox for Zach LaVine represent teams that were satisfied with their current situations. All of them are in the middle of the pack, expensive and not happy about it.

The teams at the front in both conferences, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder, are likely to stay there until the postseason tests their legitimacy. The championship-holding teams behind them, the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets, are in this for the long haul and will be in a position to make another run.

But that midfield, well, that’s where the action is going to be. There are a lot of reputations, contract extensions and jobs on the line over the next two months. There simply isn’t enough room at the all-in stage in this zero-sum game. And you’re going to see the pressure, and the desperation, really show up.