Play‑In bracket shifts
The play‑in kept reshuffling the postseason picture with 7–10 seeds deciding the last playoff spots and the league’s full postseason schedule moving forward this week. (cbssports.com) (espn.com)
Portland grabbed the Western Conference’s No. 7 seed Tuesday night, while Charlotte stayed alive in the East with an overtime win that knocked Miami out. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) The Trail Blazers beat the Suns 114-110 on April 14 after erasing an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit, and the official bracket now slots Portland into a first-round series against the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) Charlotte beat Miami 127-126 in overtime on April 14, eliminating the Heat and sending the Hornets into Friday’s East play-in game against the loser of Wednesday’s Orlando Magic-Philadelphia 76ers matchup. (nba.com) (espn.com) Wednesday’s remaining games are Orlando at Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and Golden State at the Los Angeles Clippers at 10 p.m. Eastern. The winners take the No. 7 seeds; the losers get one more game on Friday for the No. 8 seeds. (nba.com) (espn.com) The play-in is a three-game ladder for seeds seven through 10 in each conference, not a playoff series. The No. 7 and No. 8 teams meet for one automatic berth, the No. 9 and No. 10 teams meet in an elimination game, and those paths feed one last winner-take-all game for the No. 8 seed. (espn.com) (cbssports.com) That format leaves most of the bracket in place before the week ends. In the East, New York will face Atlanta and Cleveland will face Toronto in the first round, while Detroit and Boston wait for the two play-in survivors; in the West, Oklahoma City waits for the No. 8 seed, Denver draws Minnesota, Houston draws the Los Angeles Lakers, and San Antonio now has Portland. (nba.com) (espn.com) The first round starts Saturday, April 18, with Toronto at Cleveland at 1 p.m. Eastern and Atlanta at New York at 6 p.m. Eastern. The other first-round openers listed by the league begin Sunday, April 19, including Boston’s Game 1 at 1 p.m. Eastern, Oklahoma City’s at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, and Detroit’s at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. (nba.com) The league’s schedule page lists Game 1 of the National Basketball Association Finals for June 3, after four best-of-seven rounds with no reseeding and home-court advantage based on regular-season record. (nba.com) (espn.com) By Friday night, the four-team play-in field will be down to two survivors, and the 16-team playoff bracket will be fully locked. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2)
