NBA: Teams get some clarity on tiebreakers

MIAMI—The NBA has told teams that playoff seeding will be based on winning percentage, while any tiebreakers after that would follow the usual procedures.

It was an issue that needed clarity because the 22 teams going to the Disney complex near Orlando, Fla. for the planned resumption of the season next month will not have played the same number of games. The NBA notified teams in a memo late Friday.

Based on the plan to restart with regular-season games — eight per team — in late July, Dallas would end up playing an NBA-high 75 contests. Most others will play between 72 (the Raptors’ total) and 74; the low will be 71, which San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers will finish at if the NBA’s plans for teams to play eight games at the Disney complex before the playoffs begin comes to fruition.

The NBA has not announced revised schedules with Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Golden State, Minnesota and New York not returning for the rest of the season.

Some close playoff races involve teams that will end up playing a different number of games.

In the East, Brooklyn and Orlando are separated by a halfgame, and the Nets will end up with one less game than the Magic. In the West, four teams — Portland, New Orleans, Sacramento and San Antonio — are separated by a half-game in the race for ninth place and potentially a berth in a play-in series. The gap is .010 percentage points. The Trail Blazers will play 74 games, the Pelicans and Kings will both play 72 and the Spurs 71. Typically, NBA teams play 82 games — which wasn’t possible this season because of the coronavirus pandemic.