Fifteen of the 20 playoff seeds were undetermined before the final day of the NBA regular season, and 11 of the final 15 regular season games had a direct impact on seeding and playoff matchups.
As Sunday’s early and late afternoon games concluded, the playoff picture began to become clearer in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference.
With the No. 2 seed on the line in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers all had a chance to clinch the No. 2 seed. The Knicks took advantage and earned the second seed – because the Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls in overtime, Milwaukee (playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo) lost to the Orlando Magic, and Cleveland (playing without Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland) fell to Charlotte.
The Knicks (50-32) finished with a better record than the Bucks (49-33), who finished with a better record than Cleveland (48-34). Rounding out the East, the Magic took fifth place with their victory, the Indiana Pacers took sixth place with their victory, the Philadelphia 76ers finished in seventh place, and the Miami Heat finished eighth. The No. 9 seed and No. 10 Atlanta Hawks were settled before Sunday’s games. The Boston Celtics clinched first place three weeks ago.
Who made the NBA playoffs?
Eastern Conference First Round playoff games
Boston No. 1 vs. No. 8 seed: of the winner of No. 7 Philadelphia-No. 8 Miami losing play-in game against No. 9 Chicago-No. 10 Atlanta play-in winner.
No. 2 in New York against seed No. 7: Winner of play-in game No. 7 Philadelphia vs. No. 8 Miami
No. 3 Milwaukee vs. No. 6 Indiana
No. 4 Cleveland vs. No. 5 Orlando
Western Conference first round games?
The matchups will be determined at the end of the eight matches at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Seed No. 1 vs. No. 8: of the winner of No. 7-No. 8 loser of play-in match against No. 9-No. 10 play-in game winners.
Seed No. 2 against No. 7: of the winner of the play-in match n°7 against n°8 8
No. 3 versus No. 6
Los Angeles Clippers No. 4 vs. Dallas Mavericks No. 5
Play-in tournament schedule, TV, times
TUESDAY
West #8 vs. West #7, TNT, time to be determined
West #10 vs. West #9, TNT, time to be determined
WEDNESDAY
Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers, ESPN, 7 p.m. ET
Atlanta Hawks vs. Chicago Bulls, ESPN, 9:30 p.m. ET
Friday
East loser 7-8 vs. East winner 9-10, ESPN, time to be determined
West loser 7-8 vs. West winner 9-10, TNT, time to be determined
