Wellington and Waikato, both on 12 wins, have secured post-season berths and will likely host semifinals.
With two rounds of the regular season remaining, only one game separates third from sixth with North Harbour, Nelson, Hawke's Bay and Auckland each having six defeats.
Taranaki in seventh spot on 14 points from seven wins and eight defeats have an outside chance of making the playoffs.
"I think it's fantastic," Hawke's Bay coach Shawn Dennis said.
"The change to six teams (for the playoffs) is doing what it's meant to. There's still seven teams that can make the top-six . . . third to sixth can go any way really.
"With the way the games have gone over the last few weeks, I wish I could give you my prediction.
"There's some tough games coming up for the top-six teams playing each other.
" We played so well last week and then went down to Nelson, Taranaki beat Waikato last week and Harbour have been inconsistent all season.
"I guess that's good for the league because you just don't know."
Hawke's Bay missed an opportunity to go some way towards securing a home quarterfinal, going down 90-79 to the Nelson last night following their 92-76 home win over Manawatu on Wednesday.
They fell back to fifth, sharing a nine win and six losses record with Nelson, only one win behind North Harbour who are third.
In the final two rounds, seven games feature match-ups between the top seven, ensuring plaoffs picture will not be complete until the final night of the regular season.
