NBA’s play-in games are set
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and his teammates are staying in New Orleans for a couple more days. Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors will head back to Sacramento to face elimination again. And the Miami Heat are back in the play-in tournament, which started their run to the NBA Finals last year.
The play-in field is set. On Tuesday, it’s the Lakers visiting the Pelicans for a No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, then the Warriors facing the Kings in an elimination game. On Wednesday, it’s the Heat going to Philadelphia to play the 76ers and decide No. 7 in the Eastern Conference, followed by the Chicago Bulls hosting the Atlanta Hawks in a win-or-else matchup.
“Look, this is the best time of year,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “These kind of environments, the games, the context … you can’t expect it to be easy.”
Of the 20 postseason seeds, 15 were decided on Sunday as the 2023-24 regular season wrapped up, as were three of the four play-in matchups and three of the four first-round series that don’t include play-in teams.
The final order in the East: Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Orlando, Indiana, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago and Atlanta. In the West, the order from No. 1 to No. 10 is Oklahoma City, Denver, Minnesota, the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas, Phoenix, New Orleans, the Lakers, Sacramento and Golden State.
“Good momentum going into the playoffs,” Oklahoma City star Shai GilgeousAlexander said after his team finished No. 1 in the West. “Nothing to complain about. … We won a lot of basketball games. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what everybody laces their shoes up for, to win basketball games and have a chance to win a championship.”
The only first-round series that was set before Sunday was Clippers-Dallas in the West. Added to the list now: MilwaukeeIndiana and Cleveland-Orlando in the East, along with Minnesota-Phoenix in the West.
The games themselves didn’t bring much drama on the regular season’s final day. Of the 15 played, only one was decided by one possession — and it was at Madison Square Garden, where New York got a big win. The Knicks held off Chicago 120-119 in overtime, a result that let them leapfrog Milwaukee for No. 2 in the East.
“A hell of a regular season,” Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “Let’s get ready for the playoffs.”
The Miami-Philadelphia winner will face No. 2 seed New York in the first round of the playoffs, and the loser will play host to the Atlanta-Chicago winner on Friday night for the chance to meet No. 1 overall seed Boston. The Lakers-New Orleans winner gets the No. 7 seed and will play reigning champion Denver in the first round — the Lakers were swept by the Nuggets last season — and the Lakers-New Orleans loser will face the Sacramento-Golden State winner for the right to play No. 1 Oklahoma City.
Golden State won a Game 7 at Sacramento last season to advance.
The Warriors will have to win a playin game there Tuesday that’ll have Game 7-type consequences.