LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will be in New Orleans for a few more days. Stephen Curry and Golden State will return to Sacramento and face elimination once again. And the Miami Heat, who began their run to the NBA Finals last year, are back in the play-ins.
A play-in field has been installed. On Tuesday, the Lakers will play the Pelicans for the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, before playing the Warriors and Kings in an elimination game. On Wednesday, the Heat will play Philadelphia for seventh place in the Eastern Conference, followed by matchups at Atlanta and Chicago.
“Look, this is the best time of the year,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “This kind of environment, game, situation… you can't expect it to be easy.”
Fifteen of the 20 postseason seeds were determined Sunday, as were three of the four play-in matchups and three of the four first-round series games that do not include play-in teams.
The final order on the East side is Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Orlando, Indiana, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, and Atlanta. In the West, from 1st to 10th place are Oklahoma City, Denver, Minnesota, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas, Phoenix, New Orleans, Lakers, Sacramento, and Golden State.
“We have good momentum heading into the playoffs,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said after his team finished first in the West. “I can't complain. … We won a lot of basketball games. That's what it's all about. That's what everyone needs to win basketball games and have a chance to win a championship. It's about tying your shoelaces.”
The only first-round series set before Sunday was the Clippers vs. Mavericks in the West. Now added to the list are Bucks vs. Pacers and Cavaliers vs. Magic in the East, and Timberwolves vs. Suns in the West.
The game itself didn't bring much drama on the final day of the regular season. Only one of the 15 games was decided by a single possession, and that was at Madison Square Garden, where New York won by a landslide. The Knicks held off Chicago 120-119. They overtook Milwaukee in overtime to take second place in the East.
“It was a hell of a regular season,” Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “Let's get ready for the playoffs.”
Here are some of the biggest explosions on Sunday: Oklahoma City beats Dallas Indiana defeated Atlanta by 42 points by 49 points to take first place in the West Division. Sacramento defeats Portland San Antonio beat Detroit by 28 points by 39 points, and Orlando, which would have been in the play-in if it lost, beat Milwaukee by 25 points.
orlando They won 47 games to win the Southeast Division and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
“I'm really proud of these guys,” Magic coach Jamal Mosley said. “There aren't really many words about it. You're talking about a group that got up, fell down, fought back, was resilient… They've proven it. They took big stakes on themselves. I won it with my hands.”
The Heat-76ers winner will face No. 2 seed New York in the first round of the playoffs, while the loser will face the Hawks-Bulls winner on Friday night against No. 1 overall seed Boston. The winner of the Lakers-Pelicans game will earn the No. 7 seed and will face defending champion Denver in the first round (the Lakers were swept by the Nuggets last season). The loser of the Lakers vs. Pelicans game will play the winner of the Sacramento vs. Golden State game for a spot. First place is Oklahoma City.
golden state Last season, they advanced by winning Game 7 in Sacramento. The Warriors must win the play-in game on Tuesday, which would lead to a Game 7-like outcome.
“It's going to be a great atmosphere,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Of course we were there last year. There's going to be a crowd behind them. I'm glad I didn't have to get on a plane. So tomorrow I'm going to take a bus and go there and have a day to prepare. , prepare for departure.”
The only spots that changed hands in the East on Sunday were No. 2 and No. 3 between the Knicks and Bucks. The West saw two flips on the final day. denver They passed Minnesota for second place and moved the Timberwolves into third place, while Phoenix moved up one spot to sixth place and the Pelicans moved one spot to seventh place.
Phoenix won against Minnesota on Sunday. We will then head there again for the first race next weekend.
“The time is now,” Suns guard Bradley Beal said. “It starts now.”
Cleveland is the No. 4 seed in the East for the second year in a row. The Cavaliers had a chance to move into second or third place with a win on Sunday and led lottery-winning Charlotte by 13 points with 10 minutes left.
Still, they didn't seem to have much desire to advance, losing the remaining games 30-7. Charlotte won 120-110. in coach Steve Clifford's final game against the Hornets.
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