Final day: NBA drama
The NBA regular season ends today with all 30 teams playing and a tangled set of clinching scenarios and tiebreakers that will finalize playoff and play‑in spots ( ). NBC Sports flagged nine must‑watch games that directly affect seeding, and Toronto can clinch fifth with a home win at Scotiabank Arena but could still fall into the play‑in if it loses and Philadelphia and Orlando also lose ( ).
The National Basketball Association regular season ends Sunday, April 12, with all 30 teams playing and 10 postseason seeds still unsettled. (nba.com) The league’s own playoff tracker said the Western Conference still had the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, plus the No. 8 and No. 9 play-in spots, unresolved Sunday morning. In the Eastern Conference, every seed from No. 5 through No. 10 was still in play. (nba.com) Not a single first-round series was set when the day began, according to Yahoo Sports. The top-seeded Detroit Pistons could still draw Toronto, Orlando, Philadelphia, Charlotte or Miami depending on the day’s results and the play-in tournament. (sports.yahoo.com) In the East, Atlanta had already secured a playoff berth but not its exact slot. NBC Sports reported the Hawks could lock up No. 5 with a win at Miami, while a Toronto win over Brooklyn would move the Raptors to fifth if Atlanta lost. (nbcsports.com) Toronto entered the day with the widest range among the teams above the play-in line. The National Basketball Association said the Raptors clinch the No. 6 seed with a win, or with losses by both Orlando and Philadelphia, but NBC Sports said a Toronto win plus an Atlanta loss would lift the Raptors to No. 5. (nba.com, nbcsports.com) Orlando and Philadelphia were chasing the same protected spot. The National Basketball Association said Orlando gets No. 6 with a win and a Toronto loss, while Philadelphia needs a win plus losses by both Toronto and Orlando. (nba.com) Those two teams were also fighting for home court in the No. 7 versus No. 8 play-in game if they missed the top six. NBC Sports said Orlando would secure No. 7 with a win in Boston, but if Orlando lost, Philadelphia could jump to seventh by beating Milwaukee at home. (nbcsports.com) Further down the East bracket, Charlotte and Miami had already claimed the last two play-in spots, but not the host role for the No. 9 versus No. 10 game. NBC Sports said Charlotte would host with one more win, while a Hornets loss and a Heat win would flip that game to Miami. (nbcsports.com) In the West, Oklahoma City and San Antonio had locked in the top two seeds, and Houston and Minnesota had locked in No. 5 and No. 6. Yahoo Sports said the remaining fight was between Denver and the Los Angeles Lakers for No. 3 and No. 4, and between Portland and the Los Angeles Clippers for No. 8 and No. 9. (sports.yahoo.com, nba.com) NBC Sports highlighted nine games with direct seeding consequences on the final day, including Atlanta at Miami, Brooklyn at Toronto, Orlando at Boston, Philadelphia versus Milwaukee, and Denver at San Antonio. The league staggered the schedule by conference windows so teams could not react to late results already on the board. (nbcsports.com) The next dates are fixed even if the matchups are not. The National Basketball Association said the SoFi Play-In Tournament starts April 14, the playoffs open April 18, and Game 1 of the Finals is scheduled for June 3. (nba.com)
