NBA: Everything Unsettled
The NBA headed into the final regular‑season day with no playoff matchups finalized across the league — every seed and several play‑in spots were still up in the air entering Sunday. (apnews.com) NBC Sports counted nine of the 15 games as directly affecting playoff scenarios, while the Rockets were already locked into the No. 5 seed and the Celtics had clinched No. 2 as other teams scrambled for positioning. ( )
The National Basketball Association reached its last day of the regular season on Sunday, April 12, with every first-round matchup still unresolved. (usnews.com) The league still had 10 seeds unsettled entering Sunday: Nos. 5 through 10 in the Eastern Conference, plus Nos. 3 and 4 and Nos. 8 and 9 in the Western Conference. The SoFi Play-In Tournament starts April 14, and the playoffs open April 18. (nba.com) Nine of Sunday’s 15 games directly affected playoff seeding, according to NBC Sports, and the league again grouped same-conference finales at the same time to avoid teams playing with full knowledge of other results. Eastern Conference games tipped at 6 p.m. Eastern, and Western Conference games followed at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. (nbcsports.com) Some pieces were fixed. The Boston Celtics clinched the No. 2 seed in the East on Friday by beating New Orleans 144-118, improving to 55-26 and securing a 12th straight playoff berth. (boston.com) The Houston Rockets were locked into No. 5 in the West after a 136-132 loss to Minnesota on Friday left them 51-30, one game behind the Los Angeles Lakers with the tiebreaker already lost. Houston could still draw either the Lakers or the Denver Nuggets in the first round, depending on Sunday’s results. (si.com) In the East, three teams entered Sunday chasing the last automatic playoff spot at No. 6. Toronto could clinch with a win or with losses by Orlando and Philadelphia; Orlando needed a win plus a Toronto loss; Philadelphia needed a win plus losses by both Toronto and Orlando. (nba.com) That race also shaped Boston’s wait for an opponent. The Celtics knew they would face the eventual No. 7 seed, but Boston still could not know Sunday morning whether that team would be Orlando, Philadelphia or Toronto coming out of the play-in path. (boston.com) The top of the West was only slightly clearer. Oklahoma City had already clinched No. 1, San Antonio had clinched No. 2, Minnesota had clinched No. 6, Phoenix had clinched No. 7 and Golden State had clinched No. 10, leaving Denver and the Lakers to sort out Nos. 3 and 4 and Portland and the Los Angeles Clippers to fight over Nos. 8 and 9. (nba.com) The top of the East was also set before Sunday: Detroit at No. 1, Boston at No. 2, New York at No. 3 and Cleveland at No. 4. Atlanta had already secured a playoff berth, but not whether it would open against Cleveland as the No. 5 seed or drop to No. 6 and face New York. (nbcsports.com) By Sunday night, the standings would finally turn into a bracket. Until then, the National Basketball Association had 30 teams finishing the regular season and no confirmed first-round series anywhere on the board. (usnews.com)
