Nuggets grab No. 3 seed
The NBA regular season finished with the Denver Nuggets clinching the Western Conference No. 3 seed and the Los Angeles Lakers dropping to No. 4 after Sunday’s games. (sports.yahoo.com) The play‑in fields are set: East play‑in teams are the Magic, 76ers, Hornets, and Heat; West play‑in teams are the Suns, Clippers, Trail Blazers, and Warriors — and the Toronto Raptors clinched an outright playoff spot, avoiding the play‑in. (si.com) (bleacherreport.com)
Denver beat San Antonio on Sunday night to finish 54-28 and lock up the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed, pushing the Los Angeles Lakers to No. 4. (nba.com) The Nuggets closed with a 128-118 win over the Spurs, while the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 131-107 and still finished one game back at 53-29. Denver now opens the first round against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Los Angeles draws the Houston Rockets. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) Nikola Jokic scored 23 first-half points in San Antonio and appeared in his 65th game of the season, the threshold for most major regular-season awards under league rules. Denver had seven players score in double figures in the clinching win. (apnews.com) The seeding shift finished a crowded race behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, who had already secured the top two spots in the West before Sunday. Houston stayed at No. 5 and Minnesota at No. 6, leaving Denver and Los Angeles to settle the last home-court slot among the top four. (nba.com) (sports.yahoo.com) The play-in tournament starts April 14 and runs through April 17, with the full playoffs opening April 18. In the West, the Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors took the four play-in places. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) The East field also tightened on the final day. The Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic both finished 45-37 and landed in the 7-8 game, while the Charlotte Hornets at 44-38 and Miami Heat at 43-39 filled the 9-10 matchup. (nba.com) Toronto stayed out of that scramble by beating Brooklyn 136-101 to clinch the East’s last guaranteed playoff berth at 46-36. The Raptors will face the Cleveland Cavaliers, the No. 4 seed, in the first round. (apnews.com) (nba.com) The bracket is now fixed at the top six in each conference, and the remaining four first-round spots will be decided over the next four nights. Denver enters that bracket on the No. 3 line, and the Lakers start one slot lower after the season’s last day. (nba.com)
