Playoff picture still fluid
With the NBA regular season ending Sunday, CBS reported 11 of the 12 top‑six playoff spots were already secured and six of the eight play‑in teams were known entering the day. (cbssports.com)
The National Basketball Association’s playoff field was still unsettled Sunday, with one automatic berth and 10 seeds riding on the regular season’s final day. (nba.com) The league said three teams could still claim the Eastern Conference’s No. 6 seed before games on April 12: Toronto with a win or losses by Orlando and Philadelphia, Orlando with a win and a Toronto loss, and Philadelphia with a win plus losses by Toronto and Orlando. (nba.com) In the Western Conference, the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds were still open, and the No. 8 and No. 9 play-in positions were also unresolved entering Sunday. The National Basketball Association listed 10 seeds across both conferences as still to be determined. (nba.com) Most of the bracket was already in place. Oklahoma City, San Antonio, the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver, Houston and Minnesota had clinched West playoff berths, while Detroit, Boston, New York, Cleveland and Atlanta had clinched in the East. (nba.com) Some seeds were fully locked before the final tipoffs. Oklahoma City was No. 1 in the West, San Antonio No. 2, Houston No. 5 and Minnesota No. 6; Detroit was No. 1 in the East, Boston No. 2, New York No. 3 and Cleveland No. 4. (nba.com) CBS Sports reported Saturday that the Lakers had already clinched a top-four seed and could still move to No. 3 with a win over Utah plus a Denver loss to San Antonio. CBS also reported Portland had moved into the West’s No. 8 spot and could keep it with a win over Sacramento or a Los Angeles Clippers loss to Golden State. (cbssports.com) The East’s No. 9 versus No. 10 play-in game was set, but home court was not. Charlotte was locked into that matchup with Miami and would host with a win over New York or a Miami loss to Atlanta, according to CBS Sports. (cbssports.com) The format gives the top six teams in each conference direct playoff spots, while teams ranked seventh through 10th go to the play-in tournament for the final two berths. The National Basketball Association scheduled that round for April 14 through April 17, with the first round of the playoffs starting April 18. (nba.com) Sunday was the regular season’s last day, with all 30 teams on the schedule. The league announced that setup last August when it released the 2025-26 calendar. (nba.com) By late Sunday, the bracket that looked nearly finished in the morning was still waiting on the games that decide who skips the play-in and who has to survive it. (nba.com)
