Nuggets grab No.3 seed

Denver finished the regular season as the Western Conference No. 3 seed on Sunday, locking the bracket behind Oklahoma City and San Antonio. (sports.yahoo.com) The final West standings put the Nuggets at 54-28, the Los Angeles Lakers at 53-29, the Houston Rockets at 52-30 and the Minnesota Timberwolves at 49-33. Oklahoma City closed first at 64-18, and San Antonio finished second at 62-20. (basketball-reference.com) That drop moved the Lakers to No. 4, which set a first-round series against the No. 5 Rockets, while Denver’s No. 3 finish lines it up against the winner of the No. 6-No. 7 side of the West bracket after the Play-In field is sorted. (sports.yahoo.com) The top six teams in each conference skip the SoFi Play-In Tournament entirely. In the West, that means Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver, the Lakers, Houston and Minnesota are already through to the 16-team playoff field. (nba.com) The Play-In begins on April 14, and the first round of the playoffs starts on April 18. The National Basketball Association said the final seedings and elimination scenarios were updated after the regular season ended April 12. (nba.com) Denver’s move mattered because the West entered the final day with multiple seeds still unsettled. The league said only half of the postseason seeds had been locked before Sunday’s 15-game closing slate. (nba.com) The bracket is now split between teams with guaranteed series and teams still fighting through the Play-In. In the East, Toronto claimed the last automatic playoff berth, while Philadelphia, Orlando, Charlotte and Miami were left in the Play-In pool. (sports.yahoo.com) So the regular season ended with Denver climbing one line and Los Angeles sliding one. The next games that count toward a title start April 14 in the Play-In, with first-round Game 1s beginning April 18. (usatoday.com)