West seeding: Nuggets and Lakers

Denver will open the playoffs as the West’s No. 3 seed, and Los Angeles will start as No. 4 after Sunday’s regular-season finale locked the bracket. (nba.com) The Nuggets finished 54-28 and drew the No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round. The Lakers finished 53-29 and will face the No. 5 Houston Rockets. (nba.com) Denver clinched its spot with a 128-118 win over the San Antonio Spurs on April 12. Los Angeles closed with a 131-107 win over the Utah Jazz later that night. (espn.com) (nba.com) The top of the West had already been settled before the last day, with the Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 1 and the San Antonio Spurs at No. 2. Sunday decided where Denver and Los Angeles would land in the 3-4 line and fixed the first-round matchups behind them. (nba.com) That distinction matters in the bracket, not just the standings table. The No. 3 seed gets Minnesota, while the No. 4 seed gets Houston, and both series start Saturday, April 18, with Denver at 3:30 p.m. Eastern and Los Angeles at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. (nba.com) The rest of the West is still unfinished because the play-in tournament begins Tuesday, April 14. Phoenix is the No. 7 seed, Portland is No. 8, the Los Angeles Clippers are No. 9 and Golden State is No. 10. (nba.com) The play-in decides the final two playoff spots: the winner of the 7-versus-8 game takes the No. 7 seed, and the loser gets one more chance against the winner of the 9-versus-10 game for No. 8. Oklahoma City and San Antonio wait for those results at the top of the bracket. (nba.com) Denver’s finale carried one extra wrinkle beyond seeding. Nikola Jokic played his 65th game of the season in the win over San Antonio, clearing the league’s minimum-games threshold for major awards eligibility. (espn.com) By late Sunday, the moving pieces were gone: Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets, Lakers, Rockets and Timberwolves were locked into the top six, and the West finally had its postseason map. (nba.com)