NBA seeding settled
The Western Conference bracket is set: the Denver Nuggets clinched the No. 3 seed while the Los Angeles Lakers finished No. 4. (usatoday.com) With the regular season finished, the play‑in tournament begins Tuesday — and the Toronto Raptors clinched a playoff spot outright, avoiding the play‑in. (bleacherreport.com)
The National Basketball Association playoff field is set, and the last regular-season games locked Denver into third in the West and Toronto into the East’s top six. (nba.com) The Denver Nuggets finished 54-28 and drew the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round, while the Los Angeles Lakers finished 53-29 and will open against the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets. (nba.com) In the East, the Toronto Raptors finished 46-36 and landed the No. 5 seed, which sends them straight into a first-round series with the No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers instead of the play-in tournament. (nba.com) The play-in starts Tuesday, April 14, and runs through Friday, April 17; the full playoffs begin Saturday, April 18. The seventh- and eighth-place teams play for the No. 7 seed, and the ninth- and 10th-place teams fight to stay alive for a shot at No. 8. (nba.com) That format leaves four spots unresolved even after the bracket’s top six in each conference were finalized Sunday. In the West, Phoenix and Portland meet for the No. 7 seed, while the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors play in the 9-versus-10 elimination game. (espn.com) In the East, Philadelphia and Orlando will play for the No. 7 seed, and Charlotte and Miami meet in the 9-versus-10 game. The winners of Friday’s final play-in games will face the conference No. 1 seeds, Oklahoma City and Detroit, in the first round. (espn.com) The settled seeds also fixed the opening weekend schedule. Toronto opens at Cleveland at 10 a.m. Pacific time on April 18, Denver hosts Minnesota at 12:30 p.m., and Houston visits the Lakers at 5:30 p.m. that night. (espn.com) The bracket shows how tight the race was at the top of the West: Oklahoma City claimed the No. 1 seed at 64-18, San Antonio took No. 2 at 62-20, and Denver edged the Lakers by one game for No. 3. (nba.com) For Toronto, the finish ends a four-year playoff absence and avoids the extra risk of the play-in entirely. Bleacher Report’s postseason roundup noted the Raptors clinched a playoff berth outright before the regular season closed Sunday. (bleacherreport.com) Now the bracket narrows to four play-in games in four days, and by Sunday every first-round series will be fully set. (nba.com)
