The NBA's stretch run has arrived. Here's a look at what's happening
Going into the final week of the NBA regular season, 11 teams know their fate.
Detroit will be the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and 10 other teams know their seasons will come to an end on Sunday. Everything else remains a guessing game.
Some of that guesswork isn't really much of a mystery.
— Oklahoma City and San Antonio will almost certainly be No. 1 and No. 2 in the Western Conference, in that order.
— Boston will probably be No. 2 in the East, with New York No. 3.
— Denver looks like it has the inside track to be No. 3 in the West, especially with the Los Angeles Lakers now missing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves because of injuries.
— Golden State will be in the 9 vs. 10 play-in game, almost certainly as the road team.
— Minnesota gets the No. 6 seed in the West in nearly every possible remaining scenario, with Phoenix No. 7.
This brings us to the rest of the East, and in an annual tradition of sorts, it's a mess.
Orlando and Miami seem like they're headed to the play-in tournament, but there are scenarios where either club could finish in the top six and earn a guaranteed playoff berth on Sunday. In fact, there are paths — highly, highly improbable paths in some cases, but paths nonetheless — for Atlanta, Philadelphia, Toronto, Charlotte, Orlando and Miami to all finish in the No. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 spots when the regular season ends.
Here's what we know so far regarding the NBA playoff field for this season.
— Eastern Conference playoff teams: Detroit has locked up the No. 1 seed and will open the postseason on April 19. Boston, New York, Cleveland are in. At this point, Atlanta and Philadelphia would get the other two guaranteed spots, but those are not clinched.
— East play-in teams: Nobody is locked into the play-in yet, but entering Monday, the four teams headed there are Toronto, Charlotte, Orlando and Miami.
— East eliminated teams: Milwaukee, Chicago, Indiana, Brooklyn and Washington.
— Western Conference playoff teams: Oklahoma City, San Antonio, the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver and Houston are in. Minnesota is likely to grab the sixth and final guaranteed spot.
— West play-in teams: Phoenix is probably going to the play-in tournament. Portland, the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State definitely are.
— West eliminated teams: Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, Utah and Sacramento.
— Celtics 115, Raptors 101: It's looking very much like Boston will end with the No. 2 seed.
— Nets 121, Wizards 115: Brooklyn made six more 3s than Washington, won by six points.
— Suns 120, Bulls 110: Devin Booker scored 30, Phoenix pulled away in the fourth quarter.
— Bucks 131, Grizzlies 115: Memphis' Rayan Rupert 31st player with triple-double this season.
— Cavaliers 117, Pacers 108: Donovan Mitchell scores 38, Cleveland pulls away in the fourth.
— Hornets 122, Timberwolves 108: Charlotte is very much in the race to avoid East play-in.
— Magic 112, Pelicans 108: Orlando's 7th win after trailing by 15, tied for most in NBA (Spurs).
— Thunder 146, Jazz 111: OKC was 25.5-point favorite, top odds in at least a decade, and covered.
— Mavericks 134, Lakers 128, OT: Cooper Flagg, at 19, scored 45. LeBron James, at 41, scored 30.
— Clippers 138, Kings 109: Sacramento's DeMar DeRozan moved into 16th on all-time point list.
— Rockets 117, Warriors 116: Stephen Curry returned, scored 29, nearly won game at the buzzer.
— New York at Atlanta: Hawks are 18-2 in their last 20 games, likely No. 5 seed in East. Knicks could make a statement here.
— Detroit at Orlando: Magic have three players who finished at Michigan, Pistons have two. This during the NCAA title game — featuring Michigan — is just wrong.
— Cleveland at Memphis: Cavs could still catch Knicks, with some help. A slipup here wouldn't be ideal.
— Philadelphia at San Antonio: Spurs won’t play another road game until Game 3 of West quarterfinals.
— Portland at Denver: Trail Blazers in extremely close race with Clippers for No. 8 seed in play-in tournament.
— Timberwolves at Pacers: Wolves still vying to clinch 6 seed, then focus on health before Round 1.
— Heat at Raptors: Miami plays at Toronto twice in a three-day span, huge stakes for both teams.
— Hornets at Celtics: Probably game of the night, which nobody would have predicted in October.
— Kings at Warriors: This week is basically preseason for Golden State and its play-in tune-up plan.
— Thunder at Lakers: Oklahoma City on verge of getting No. 1 overall seed for second straight year.
— Mavericks at Clippers: Dallas' Cooper Flagg’s final-week rookie of the year push tour continues.
— Rockets at Suns: Kevin Durant goes back to Phoenix, one of his former stomping grounds.
— Bulls at Wizards: All about lottery odds.
— Bucks at Nets: All about lottery odds.
— Jazz at Pelicans: For Utah, all about lottery odds. (New Orleans’ pick should convey to Atlanta.)
Monday on Peacock and NBCSN: New York-Atlanta.
Tuesday on NBC and Peacock: Charlotte-Boston, Houston-Phoenix.
Oklahoma City (+130) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by San Antonio (+450), Boston (+550), Denver (+1200), Cleveland (+1200) and New York (+1900). Detroit, the No. 1 seed in the East, is +2500. The Los Angeles Lakers were +2500 before Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves got hurt; they're +50000 now.
— Friday: All 30 teams play their 81st games of the season.
— Sunday: All 30 teams play their regular-season finales.
— April 14, 15 and 17: NBA play-in tournament dates.
— April 18 and 19: NBA playoff series openers.
— May 2, 3 or 4: Conference semifinals begin.
— May 10: NBA draft lottery.
— May 10-17: NBA draft combine.
— May 17 or 19: Eastern Conference finals begin on ESPN and ABC.
— May 18 or 20: Western Conference finals begin on NBC and Peacock.
— June 3: Game 1, NBA Finals on ABC. (Other finals dates: June 5, June 8, June 10, June 13, June 16 and June 19).
The NBA's single-season total points record is set to fall Sunday, the final day of the season. The league's teams are on pace to score a combined 284,300 points or so this season — which would top the record of 282,127 set last season. Teams are averaging 115.6 points per game this season, and that would be the biggest per-game number since 1969-70 (116.7).
— The Clippers shot 53% from the field, 49% from 3-point range and 95% from the foul line Sunday. It was the 1,000th time NBA regular-season history that a team had 50-40-90 shooting splits in a win.
— Cooper Flagg, 19, scored 45 points and LeBron James, 41, scored 30 points in Dallas’ OT win over the Lakers on Sunday. It was the first time in NBA history that a teen and a 40-something both reached 30 points in the same game.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
