Seeds clinched and spoilers

Toronto grabbed the East’s last direct playoff berth on the final day of the regular season, while the West finished with its top six locked and four teams headed to the Play-In Tournament. (nba.com) The National Basketball Association sends seeds one through six in each conference straight to the first round. Seeds seven through 10 go to the Play-In Tournament, which runs April 14 through April 17 before the playoffs open April 18. (nba.com; cbssports.com) In the East, Detroit finished No. 1 at 60-22, Boston No. 2 at 56-26, New York No. 3 at 53-29, Cleveland No. 4 at 52-30, Toronto No. 5 at 46-36 and Atlanta No. 6 at 46-36. Philadelphia, Orlando, Charlotte and Miami dropped into the Play-In field. (nba.com; sports.yahoo.com) Toronto’s finish changed the East bracket immediately: Cleveland drew the Raptors in the 4-versus-5 series, and New York drew Atlanta in the 3-versus-6 series. Detroit and Boston now wait for Play-In winners to fill the No. 8 and No. 7 lines. (nba.com; nba.com) The Play-In gives the No. 7 and No. 8 teams two chances to qualify. The 7-versus-8 winner becomes the No. 7 seed, the 9-versus-10 loser is eliminated, and the last playoff spot goes to the winner of a final game between the 7-versus-8 loser and 9-versus-10 winner. (cbssports.com) That leaves Philadelphia versus Orlando in the East 7-versus-8 game and Charlotte versus Miami in the 9-versus-10 game. The winners sort into first-round series against Boston and Detroit. (nba.com; sports.yahoo.com) In the West, Oklahoma City finished first at 64-18 and San Antonio second at 62-20. Denver landed third at 54-28, the Los Angeles Lakers fourth at 53-29, Houston fifth at 52-30 and Minnesota sixth at 49-33. (nba.com) That set two West first-round series before the Play-In even starts: Denver versus Minnesota and the Lakers versus Houston. Oklahoma City and San Antonio wait for the final two qualifiers. (nba.com) The West Play-In field is Phoenix at No. 7, Portland at No. 8, the Los Angeles Clippers at No. 9 and Golden State at No. 10. Those games begin Tuesday, April 14, with the first round starting Saturday, April 18. (nba.com; cbssports.com) By Sunday night, the regular season had settled almost every matchup, but not the bracket’s edges. Four East teams and four West teams now play for the last four spots, with the full first round coming into focus by April 17. (nba.com; nba.com)