Playoffs: clinches and play‑in
With the NBA regular season ending April 12, 11 teams have already clinched playoff spots while the remaining seedings were set to be decided on the final day, and the Play‑In Tournament begins Tuesday for teams finishing 7th through 10th in each conference. (cbssports.com) Sports Illustrated has published the full Play‑In schedule with dates and start times for those matchups. (si.com) (sports.yahoo.com)
The National Basketball Association regular season ends Sunday, April 12, with one guaranteed playoff berth and 10 seeds still unsettled before the Play-In Tournament starts April 14. (nba.com) As of early Sunday, 11 of the 12 top-six playoff spots were already clinched, and the only unclaimed automatic berth was No. 6 in the Eastern Conference. Toronto could lock it up with a win or with losses by Orlando and Philadelphia; Orlando needed a win and a Toronto loss; Philadelphia needed a win plus losses by both Toronto and Orlando. (nba.com) The Western Conference had its top two seeds set with Oklahoma City at 64-17 and San Antonio at 62-19, but Denver at 53-28 and the Los Angeles Lakers at 52-29 were still jockeying for Nos. 3 and 4 on the final day. Houston was locked into No. 5, and Minnesota had already secured No. 6. (espn.com) The East had Detroit at 59-22, Boston at 55-26, New York at 53-28, Cleveland at 51-30 and Atlanta at 46-35 all safely through to the bracket, while Toronto, Orlando and Philadelphia were still sorting out the line between a guaranteed series and the play-in. Charlotte at 43-38 and Miami at 42-39 had already clinched the East’s last two play-in spots. (espn.com) The play-in is a four-team mini-bracket in each conference for teams that finish seventh through 10th. The No. 7 team hosts No. 8 for the seventh seed, the No. 9 team hosts No. 10 in an elimination game, and the remaining eighth seed is decided between the 7-8 loser and 9-10 winner. (nba.com) If the standings held entering Sunday, the West play-in would be Phoenix against Portland in the 7-8 game and the Los Angeles Clippers against Golden State in the 9-10 game. In the East, Orlando would face Philadelphia in the 7-8 game, and Charlotte would meet Miami in the 9-10 game. (nba.com) The 2026 Play-In Tournament runs from Tuesday, April 14, through Friday, April 17, and the first round of the playoffs starts Saturday, April 18. Game 1 of the National Basketball Association Finals is scheduled for June 3. (nba.com) The schedule released Sunday lists two games on April 14, two on April 15 and the two final win-or-go-home games on April 17. The published start times are 7:30 p.m. Eastern and 10 p.m. Eastern each night, and The Sporting News reported all six games will stream on Prime Video under the league’s new media deal. (sportingnews.com) That leaves Sunday’s full 30-team slate doing what the National Basketball Association built the play-in to do: push the race past seed No. 6, keep seeds No. 7 through No. 10 alive, and turn the last week of the season into a bracket fight. (cbssports.com)
