With one day left, the NBA playoff picture is still not in complete focus.
It’s crystal-clear in the Eastern Conference, where two playoff matchups are known, the top six seeds are set and the four play-in spots are all locked in.
In the Western Conference, there’s still much to be decided. The top three seeds are known, one of the two play-in matchups is set, and the rest will be decided on the final afternoon of the regular season.
In the East, what we know so far
It's as clear as things can be going into the play-in tournament.
—No. 1 Cleveland will find out its first-round opponent on Friday.
—No. 2 Boston will play either Orlando or Atlanta in Round 1. The Magic and Hawks play in Orlando on Tuesday to decide the No. 7 seed.
—No. 3 New York will play No. 6 Detroit in Round 1, starting next weekend.
—No. 4 Indiana will play No. 5 Milwaukee in Round 1, starting next weekend.
—Chicago will host Miami on Wednesday. The winner will play at the Orlando-Atlanta loser on Friday to decide the No. 8 seed and who'll face the Cavaliers. The loser of Bulls-Heat is eliminated.
—Toronto, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Washington are eliminated and will see their seasons end Sunday.
In the West, what we know so far
—No. 1 Oklahoma City will find out its first-round opponent on Friday.
—No. 2 Houston will find out its first-round opponent on Tuesday.
—The Los Angeles Lakers are the No. 3 seed.
—Sacramento and Dallas will meet in an elimination play-in game on Wednesday, site still TBD. The winner moves on to another elimination game Friday to decide the No. 8 seed and who'll play the Thunder in Round 1. Wednesday's loser is eliminated.
—Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State and Minnesota are vying for three playoff spots in the West. The team that doesn't get one of those three guaranteed spots will play against Memphis, site TBD, on Tuesday to decide the No. 7 seed in the play-in tournament.
—Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans and Utah are eliminated and will see their seasons end Sunday.
Saturday's games
Everybody is off on Saturday.
Sunday's games with playoff implications
L.A. Clippers at Golden State — Massive for both teams, and may affect where other West teams land as well. Both teams would escape the play-in with a win.
Dallas at Memphis — Mavericks will visit Sacramento for play-in game with a loss. Grizzlies are in the 7-8 play-in game and could move to No. 7 (and get home-court) with a win.
Phoenix at Sacramento — Kings will host the 9-10 play-in game with a win or a Dallas loss to Memphis.
Denver at Houston — Nuggets would be No. 4 and have home-court in Round 1 with a win.
Utah at Minnesota — Timberwolves avoid play-in with a win, though could fall as far as No. 8 with a loss.
Sunday's remaining games
Orlando at Atlanta (a prequel to the play-in Tuesday in Orlando), Charlotte at Boston, New York at Brooklyn, Indiana at Cleveland, Washington at Miami, Chicago at Philadelphia, Detroit at Milwaukee, Oklahoma City at New Orleans, Toronto at San Antonio, L.A. Lakers at Portland.
National TV schedule
Sunday has the Milwaukee-Detroit and L.A. Clippers-Golden State games on ESPN.
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+220) and Cleveland (+550), then Golden State and the Lakers (both +1200) and Denver (+2200). Nobody else has odds shorter than 30-1.
Key dates
Saturday — No games.
Sunday — All 30 NBA teams play, end of regular season. All games start at either 1 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Tuesday — The No. 7 and No. 8 finishers in both conferences play to start the play-in tournament. Atlanta at Orlando is one of those games. Winners are the No. 7 seed for the playoffs; losers will host play-in elimination games on Friday.
Wednesday — The No. 9 and No. 10 finishers in both conferences play; one of those games will be Sacramento vs. Dallas. Winners move on to Friday; losers are finished for the season.
Friday — The Tuesday game losers play host to the Wednesday game winners. Winners are the No. 8 seed for the playoffs; losers are finished for the season.
April 19 — NBA playoffs begin.
Numbers watch
—The NBA record for total 3-pointers made in a season fell last weekend. The 99th 3-pointer on Sunday will be the 33,000th of the season. The previous record for a season was 31,579.
—For the first time, the NBA has three players with 300 3-pointers in a season. Minnesota's Anthony Edwards has 313, Detroit's Malik Beasley has 312 and Golden State’s Stephen Curry has 304. There have been 10 instances of a player making 300 3s in a season. Curry has six. Edwards, Beasley, James Harden and Klay Thompson each have one.
—There had been four instances of teammates each having 250 3-pointers in a season: Curry and Thompson did it four times when they were the Warriors' “Splash Brothers.” Boston is now the first team ever to have three players reach that number in a season: Derrick White has 265, Payton Pritchard has 251 and Jayson Tatum has 250.
—The Thunder are on the brink of setting an NBA record for point differential. They’re winning by an average of 12.8 points per game; the record is 12.3 by the 1971-72 Lakers. Oklahoma City has outscored teams by 1,040 points so far; three teams — the 1971-72 Lakers (1,007), the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (1,005) and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (1,004) are the only teams to enjoy a 1,000-point differential over a full season. This means all the Thunder need to do to break the record on Sunday is not lose by 33 or more points to New Orleans.
—Denver’s Nikola Jokic has clinched a triple-double average for the season. He's the third player to do it, joining Nuggets teammate Russell Westbrook and Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson.
Stat leader races
Not much of a race for the scoring, rebound and assist titles. They're locked up.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder will be the scoring champion, Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis will win the rebounding title for the third straight year — he'll be the seventh player in NBA history to do that — and Atlanta's Trae Young will win the assist title.
Stat of the day
Miami became the first team in NBA history to have 11 players score at least nine points in a game. It happened Friday in a 49-point win at New Orleans — one of an NBA-record five blowouts by more than 30 points in the same day.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP