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NBA Playoff Picture: Key games, tiebreakers and everything at stake on the season’s final day

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Welcome to the regular-season finale, where 13 playoff seeds are still in the air, and the only first-round series we know for sure is the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers vs. the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks.

Most notably, the final guaranteed playoff berths in both conferences remain unsettled. Win, and the New Orleans Pelicans are in as the Western Conference’s No. 6 seed, facing any of three teams. Lose, and it’s chaos. In the East, the fifth and sixth seeds are open to four different teams under any number of scenarios. The booby prizes are berths in the double-elimination bracket of the play-in tournament.

(In the play-in, which begins on Tuesday, the seventh- and eighth-place teams play a single game. The winner is the No. 7 seed; the loser faces the winner of a game between the ninth- and 10th-place teams for the No. 8 seed. Got it? Good, because there is still some settling to do for six of those eight spots.)

The West’s top seed is also undecided. This marks the first time in NBA history that three teams are tied with a conference’s top record and each have a shot at the No. 1 seed on the regular season’s final day. The Oklahoma City Thunder hold the three-way tiebreaker and a head-to-head tiebreaker against the Denver Nuggets. The Minnesota Timberwolves own head-to-head tiebreakers against OKC and Denver.

Since the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in both conferences will wait on opponents to emerge from the play-in tournament, the 4-5 matchup in the Eastern Conference is the last major domino to fall on Sunday. The Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat could each land in one of those spots. Do not worry. We have sorted that out.

Now that we have dispensed with the basics, on to the finer details (and there are a lot of them) …

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (56-25)

Clinched playoff berth

2. Minnesota Timberwolves (56-25)

Clinched playoff berth

Highest possible finish: No. 1 seed (clinched no lower than No. 3)

Own tiebreakers against: Nuggets, Thunder

3. Denver Nuggets (56-25)

Clinched playoff berth

4. Los Angeles Clippers…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-playoff-picture-key-games-tiebreakers-and-everything-at-stake-on-the-seasons-final-day-162612924.html

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Publish date : 2024-04-13 16:26:12

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