NBA bracket locked
The NBA finalized all 20 postseason seeds and published the full playoff bracket, with the playoffs scheduled to begin April 18 and the Play‑In Tournament set immediately beforehand (cbssports.com) (espn.com). CBS published the game times and a play‑in guide that lists teams in the field, including the Warriors and 76ers, ahead of first-round matchups (cbssports.com).
The National Basketball Association postseason field is set, and 20 teams now know their path into the Play-In Tournament or the first round. (nba.com) The SoFi Play-In Tournament runs from Tuesday, April 14, through Friday, April 17, and the first round starts Saturday, April 18. Game 1 of the National Basketball Association Finals is scheduled for June 3. (nba.com) In the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons are the No. 1 seed at 60-22, the Boston Celtics are No. 2 at 56-26, the New York Knicks are No. 3 at 53-29, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are No. 4 at 52-30. The Toronto Raptors took No. 5 at 46-36, and the Atlanta Hawks finished No. 6 at 46-36. (nba.com) In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the No. 1 seed at 64-18, the San Antonio Spurs are No. 2 at 62-20, the Denver Nuggets are No. 3 at 54-28, and the Los Angeles Lakers are No. 4 at 53-29. The Houston Rockets are No. 5 at 52-30, and the Minnesota Timberwolves are No. 6 at 49-33. (nba.com) The play-in is a four-team mini-bracket in each conference for the No. 7 and No. 8 playoff seeds. Teams that finished seventh and eighth get two chances to qualify, while the ninth-place and 10th-place teams must win twice to advance. (nba.com) That format puts the Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat into the East play-in, and the Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors into the West play-in. The Warriors reached the field at 37-45, while the 76ers and Magic both finished 45-37. (nba.com) The first play-in games are set for April 14 and April 15: Heat at Hornets and Trail Blazers at Suns on Tuesday, then Magic at 76ers and Warriors at Clippers on Wednesday. The Friday games match the loser of the 7-versus-8 game against the winner of the 9-versus-10 game in each conference. (nba.com) Four first-round series are already locked in before the play-in ends: Knicks versus Hawks and Cavaliers versus Raptors in the East, plus Nuggets versus Timberwolves and Lakers versus Rockets in the West. The top two seeds in each conference are still waiting on the play-in winners. (espn.com) The bracket settled on the final day of the regular season, when Toronto secured the East’s last top-six spot and Denver clinched the West’s No. 3 seed ahead of Los Angeles. That left every seed from No. 1 through No. 10 fixed before the play-in tipped off. (cbssports.com) The postseason starts now with elimination games on April 14, and by Friday night the full 16-team playoff bracket will be complete. (nba.com)
