Nine games matter Sunday

Nine of the National Basketball Association’s 15 regular-season finales on Sunday carry playoff or play-in stakes, with both conferences playing on synchronized windows. (nbcsports.com) The league scheduled all 15 games for April 12 in two blocks: seven at 6 p.m. Eastern in the East and eight at 8:30 p.m. Eastern in the West. The National Basketball Association says the SoFi Play-In Tournament starts April 14 and the playoffs open April 18. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) In the Eastern Conference, Detroit, Boston, New York and Cleveland already own seeds one through four, but seeds five through 10 are still moving. The National Basketball Association said Sunday morning that six Eastern spots, from fifth through 10th, remained unsettled. (nba.com) Atlanta can clinch the fifth seed with a win at Miami, while Toronto can still finish anywhere from fifth to seventh entering its home game against Brooklyn. ESPN reported that Atlanta reached Sunday on a 20-5 run and that Toronto would guarantee a top-six finish with a win. (espn.com) Orlando at Boston and Milwaukee at Philadelphia will help decide the East’s final guaranteed playoff berth and the host for the 7-versus-8 play-in game. The National Basketball Association said Toronto, Orlando and Philadelphia all entered Sunday with paths to the No. 6 seed. (nba.com) Charlotte at New York and Atlanta at Miami also affect who hosts the 9-versus-10 play-in game in the East. NBC Sports reported that Charlotte secures the No. 9 seed with a win, but Miami can jump to ninth if the Hornets lose and the Heat beat Atlanta. (nbcsports.com) The Western Conference is tighter at the top than the bottom: Oklahoma City and San Antonio are locked into seeds one and two, while Houston is locked into fifth, Minnesota into sixth, Phoenix into seventh and Golden State into 10th. The National Basketball Association said only seeds three and four, plus eight and nine, were still unresolved in the West entering Sunday. (nba.com) Denver at San Antonio and Utah at Los Angeles Lakers will decide whether the Nuggets or Lakers finish third and get home court in the first round. Yahoo Sports reported that Denver and Los Angeles entered the day competing for seeds three and four, with Houston already fixed in fifth. (sports.yahoo.com) Golden State at Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento at Portland will settle the other Western question: who hosts the 9-versus-10 play-in game between the Clippers and Warriors, and whether Portland stays eighth. Yahoo Sports listed the Trail Blazers and Clippers as the teams still jockeying for eighth and ninth, with Phoenix already set in seventh and Golden State in 10th. (sports.yahoo.com) ESPN reported that no first-round playoff series was set when the day began, even with several seeds already locked. That is the point of the final-day format: teams in the same conference tip off together, so nobody gets to react to a finished game before its own starts. (espn.com) (nbcsports.com)