Seeding decided for NBA play-offs action
The last day of the regular season has finalised seeding for the NBA play-offs and play-in tournament, with the Oklahoma City Thunder earning the top seed out West and the play-in set to begin.
The eighth-seeded Lakers will face the No 7 Pelicans in New Orleans, a familiar match-up after Los Angeles initiated that game by winning 124-108 in New Orleans on Sunday. That win prevented the Pelicans from avoiding the play-in tournament altogether, and the Lakers ended up winning the regular-season series 3-1.
“We have to come back with the right mentality,” New Orleans coach Willie Green said. “We have to be the aggressive team. We have to be the more physical team. We have to keep them out of our paint.”
The No 9 Sacramento Kings were to host the 10th-seeded Golden State Warriors later yesterday, and those teams would not have that same level of familiarity, as they have not faced one another* since January 25, a 134-133 Kings win. Their regular-season series ended tied at 2-2.
Today in the US, the league’s attention turns to the Eastern Conference, as the No 7 Philadelphia 76ers host the eighth-seeded Miami Heat.
The Sixers saw their chances of grabbing a top-six seed evaporate on Sunday despite their 107-86 win over the Brooklyn Nets, as the Indiana Pacers also won. The Heat have lost their last two games with Philadelphia, including a 109-105 decision on April 4.
The nightcap today will feature the 10th-seeded Atlanta Hawks travelling to Chicago to take on the ninth-seeded Bulls, a match-up that has been in the making for quite some time with neither team finishing within less than three games of another team in the standings. The Bulls won the season series 2-1, but the Hawks took the most recent contest, 113-101, on April 1.
The winners of both 7-8 games will advance to the play-offs as No 7 seeds to face the Denver Nuggets in the West and the New York Knicks in the East.
Friday will see the losers of Miami-Philadelphia take on the winners of Atlanta-Chicago. In the West, it will be the winners of Golden State-Sacramento facing the losers of Los AngelesNew Orleans.
The NBA play-offs will begin the next day on Saturday, with the second-seeded Nuggets and Knicks hosting their respective series. The Orlando Magic (No 5 seeds) and Cavaliers (4) will also begin their series in Cleveland, while the Minnesota Timberwolves (3) will host the Phoenix Suns (6) in Game 1 of their series.
Sunday, the play-offs continue with the Thunder playing host to the West’s final play-in winners.