Recap all of the action from an 11-game Sunday around the NBA.
The playoff picture continues to come into focus as the regular season enters its final week. Here’s what we know:
Nine of the 12 guaranteed playoff berths have been clinched:
• East: Detroit (clinched No. 1 seed), Boston, New York and Cleveland are in. The Pistons, Celtics and Knicks have clinched top-four finishes and will have home-court advantage in the opening round.
• West: OKC, San Antonio, Los Angeles Lakers, Denver and Houston are in. The Thunder and Spurs have clinched top-two finishes, but San Antonio can still catch OKC for the top seed; the Spurs are three games back with four to play and hold the tiebreaker.
Three of the eight Play-In Tournament spots are locked:
• East: None – all four teams currently in the Play-In field have a chance to reach the top six for a guaranteed playoff spot. Seeds 6-10 are entering the final week separated by just two games.
• West: LA Clippers, Portland and Golden State are locked in the Play-In. Only Phoenix has a chance to reach the top six; the Suns are three games back with four to play.
With the races so tight, the seedings can shake up on a nightly basis. Here are 12 games that could make a huge impact on the final playoff picture.
April 6
• New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks (7 p.m. ET, Peacock)
A matchup of two top-five teams in the East that are looking to hold their positions – New York at No. 3 and Atlanta at No. 5.
The Knicks have held No. 3 since late February, but enter this week with only a one-game lead (and the head-to-head tiebreaker) over the No. 4 Cavaliers. New York faces four postseason teams, all with something to play for this week, beginning in Atlanta before returning home to face Boston, Toronto and Charlotte.
Atlanta holds a two-game advantage on both No. 6 Philadelphia and No. 7 Toronto, but the Hawks only have the tiebreaker over the Sixers. After this matchup with New York, the Hawks have a home-and-home set with No. 4 Cleveland before closing at Miami. Starting the week with a win would greatly help both teams avoid a slip in the standings.
• Portland Trail Blazers at Denver Nuggets (9 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass)
Both teams enter this week tied with teams from Los Angeles and can move up in the Western Conference standings with a win, as both L.A. squads are idle on Monday.
The No. 4 Nuggets are tied with the No. 3 Lakers at 50-28, but Los Angeles holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. However, with the Lakers off on Monday, a Denver win would elevate the Nuggets to No. 3 (at least temporarily).
The No. 9 Blazers are tied with the No. 8 Clippers at 40-38, but LA holds the head-to-head tiebreaker by leading the season series 2-1 with one more game to play (more on that later). A win on Monday would lift the Blazers back to No. 8 and the top half of the Play-In Tournament, which holds a major advantage over the bottom half.
April 7
• Charlotte Hornets at Boston Celtics (8 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock)
If the season ended today, No. 8 Charlotte would be in a Play-In game against No. 7 Toronto, with the winner securing the No. 7 seed in the playoffs and a first-round matchup with No. 2 Boston.
But the Hornets still have a week to play in order to climb out of the Play-In and into the top six. Charlotte enters the week on a four-game win streak while sitting just a half-game back of both No. 6 Philadelphia and No. 7 Toronto.
Can the Hornets keep their hot streak going against a Celtics team that has won three straight themselves? While the Celtics have already secured their playoff spot, they are trying to maintain their lead over New York for the No. 2 seed in the East.
• Oklahoma City Thunder at Los Angeles Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET, League Pass)
A clash between No. 1 and No. 3 in the West entering the final week of the season.
For the Thunder, their magic number is two to lock up the No. 1 seed in the West – any combination of OKC wins or San Antonio losses will not only give OKC the top seed in the West, but the top seed in the NBA for the second straight season.
For the Lakers, they enter the final week of the season coming off two straight losses and dealing with two injured stars, as both Luka DonÄić (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique) are out for the remainder of the regular season (and potentially into the playoffs).
L.A. holds the No. 3 seed via tiebreaker over Denver and a one-game lead over No. 5 Houston. Can the Lakers maintain their position while playing shorthanded over the final week of the season? Their first test comes against the defending champs, who are seeking a sixth straight win.
April 8
• Atlanta Hawks at Cleveland Cavaliers (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
If the season ended today, this would be a first-round matchup between the No. 4 Cavs and the No. 5 Hawks. This week, we get two chances to preview this potential series, beginning with this Wednesday’s matchup in Cleveland and followed by Friday’s game in Atlanta.
These teams have not met since November, when they split the first two games of their season series. This week’s two-game set will determine the head-to-head tiebreaker, which would only come into play if Atlanta ran the table (they’ve won four straight entering this week) and Cleveland lost all of its remaining games (they’ve won two straight entering this week).
Even if the Hawks can’t catch the Cavs in the standings, this week could be a chance to see how they stack up against Cleveland should that first-round matchup materialize.
April 9
• Miami Heat at Toronto Raptors (7 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass)
This is the second of two meetings this week between the No. 7 Raptors (currently losing a tiebreaker to No. 6 Philly) and No. 10 Miami (just two games back). With five teams separated by just two games between the final guaranteed playoff spot (No. 6) and the final spot in the Play-In (No. 10), these head-to-head matchups can create big swings in the standings.
The Raptors enter this week with a 2-0 edge over the Heat, but with two meetings this week (Tuesday and Thursday, both in Toronto), Miami has a chance to even the season series and pick up two full games on the Raptors.
• Boston Celtics at New York Knicks (7:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video)
The Knicks enter this week three games back of the Celtics for the No. 2 seed in the East with four games to play. If New York hopes to catch Boston, this game is a must-win for the Knicks.
New York leads the season series 2-1, so a win here would clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker while also allowing the Knicks to pick up a full game on the Celtics. Of course, New York would still need some help, as Boston would have to lose two more games in order to have a chance at a tie in the standings.
While the Knicks hold a 2-1 lead this season, this will be the first matchup since Jayson Tatum’s return for Boston. Tatum, who suffered his torn Achilles during Boston’s second-round loss to New York last spring, has averaged 21.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists in his first 14 games back.
April 10
• Oklahoma City Thunder at Denver Nuggets (9 p.m. ET, League Pass)
If the postseason began today, this would be a potential second-round matchup between the No. 1 Thunder and No. 4 Nuggets. However, Denver has a chance to climb up to No. 3 and avoid the defending champs until the Western Conference Finals, as the Nuggets enter this week tied with the No. 3 Lakers with four games to play and L.A. shorthanded.
In addition to potential playoff implications, this matchup also features two of the top three players in the latest Kia MVP Ladder – Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokić. While Jokić has averaged a triple-double (23.7 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 11.7 apg in three games against OKC), it is Gilgeous-Alexander (35.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 12.3 apg) and the Thunder who lead the series 3-0 entering this final regular-season matchup.
• Minnesota Timberwolves at Houston Rockets (9:30 PM ET, Prime Video)
The No. 5 Rockets and No. 6 Timberwolves enter this week sitting next to each other in the standings, but have been on two different trajectories as of late.
Houston has already clinched a playoff berth and enters the final week of the season riding a six-game win streak, sitting just one game back of both No. 3 Los Angeles and No. 4 Denver in the race for home-court in the first round.
Minnesota has dropped three straight games and four of its last five, with Anthony Edwards playing just twice since mid-March. The Wolves hold a three-game lead on the Suns for the final guaranteed playoff spot, but Phoenix holds the tiebreaker should the Wolves continue to sputter down the stretch.
• LA Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers (10 p.m. ET, League Pass)
The teams enter this week even in the standings at 40-38, with the No. 8 Clippers holding the tiebreaker with a 2-1 lead in the season series. The winner of this game will earn the tiebreaker – LA will either win the season series 3-1, or Portland will take it by having a superior conference record.
Why is this so important? These teams are walking the line between No. 8 and No. 9 in the Play-In. A quick reminder on the Play-In format: The teams that finish No. 7 and 8 at the end of the regular season have two chances to win one game in order to secure a playoff berth. The teams that finish No. 9 and No. 10 must win two games and can only earn the No. 8 seed in the playoffs.
April 12
• Orlando Magic at Boston Celtics (6 p.m. ET, League Pass)
No. 9 Orlando is another of the five East teams separated by just two games between No. 6 and No. 10 in the conference. Entering their regular-season finale, the Magic will either be playing for a chance to get out of the Play-In and earn a top-six seed, or to boost their positioning within the Play-In Tournament. We’ll know every potential scenario and lay out all potential finishes this weekend.
Meanwhile, the Celtics will hope to have locked up the East 2 seed before the final day of the regular season, but as we discussed earlier, New York has a chance to tighten this race on Thursday, which could give this matchup high stakes for both teams.
• Denver Nuggets at San Antonio Spurs (8:30 p.m. ET, League Pass)
While we may not know which playoff seeds are on the line in this matchup – as San Antonio enters the week with an outside shot of catching OKC for the No. 1 seed, and Denver can climb as high as No. 3 or slide all the way down to No. 6 – there’s an added layer to this matchup.
Similar to Denver’s game against OKC on Friday, this game also features two of the top three players in the latest Kia MVP Ladder – Jokić for Denver and Victor Wembanyama for San Antonio – who staged an instant classic when they dueled last week.
Jokić (40 pts, 8 reb, 13 ast, 3 blk) and Wembanyama (34 pts, 18 reb, 7 ast, 5 blk) traded monster games, but it was the Nuggets that emerged with a 136-134 win to take a 2-1 series lead, with all three games decided by five points or less.
