Sacramento, Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers are in the Western Conference play-in tournament. Chicago will host Atlanta in an Eastern Conference play-in game next week. Dallas will play the Los Angeles Clippers in Round 1. And Boston, as has known for a while, will have home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.
With three (really two) days left in the regular season, that’s basically all that has been decided.
The Kings’ loss to New Orleans on Thursday night locked Sacramento into the play-in, plus gave the Pelicans the inside track to the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
There are 15 games on Friday, none Saturday, then 15 more on Sunday afternoon to close the regular season. Of the 15 on Friday, there are 12 that will have at least some impact on playoff positioning.
Some of the key games:
— Orlando at Philadelphia. The Magic could be home for Round 1 of the playoffs or even on the road for Game 1 of the play-in tournament. That’s how wild the East is. The 76ers are trying to avoid the play-in. And this game has implications for Cleveland, Indiana and Miami as well.
— Indiana at Cleveland. The Cavs, technically, could finish anywhere from No. 2 to No. 8 in the East. Indiana would jump Cleveland in the standings with a win (the teams would be tied, the Pacers would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker).
— Los Angeles Lakers at Memphis, New Orleans at Golden State. The Lakers and Warriors are trying to not be No. 10 in the West, while the Pelicans are trying to avoid the play-in entirely.
— Minnesota should get Karl-Anthony Towns back Friday when it plays host to Atlanta, Oklahoma City plays host to Milwaukee and Denver is at San Antonio. The Nuggets, Timberwolves and Thunder are all vying for spots 1-2-3 in the West.
FRIDAY’S NATIONAL TV SCHEDULE
Of the 15 games Friday, two are nationally televised:
8 p.m. Eastern — Milwaukee at Oklahoma City, NBA TV
10:30 p.m. Eastern — Phoenix at Sacramento, NBA TV
WHO’S IN/WHO’S OUT
Only one playoff seed is locked up, that being East No. 1, which Boston secured weeks ago. The East play-in seeds No. 9 and 10 are going to Chicago and Atlanta, respectively.
In the West, the Clippers and Mavericks will be No. 4 and No. 5, in some order.
Denver, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, the Clippers and Mavericks have clinched playoff spots in the Western Conference. Boston, Milwaukee and New York have clinched spots from the Eastern Conference.
As of now, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, Sacramento, the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State also hold what would be the play-in spots. The Bulls, Hawks, Kings, Lakers and Warriors are certain to be in the play-in tournament.
Brooklyn, Toronto, Charlotte, Washington, Detroit, Houston, Utah, Memphis, Portland and San Antonio have been eliminated from all contention.
BETTING GUIDE
Boston has home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs and is currently the heavy favorite to win the championship, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The Celtics are listed at +165, well ahead of defending champion Denver (+300). Next up: the Clippers (+900), followed by Oklahoma City (+1600) and Milwaukee (+1700).
The Bucks’ odds took a big hit this week, in large part because of the calf injury that Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered on Tuesday night.
WHAT TO KNOW
— All 30 teams play on Friday. And after the league takes Saturday off, all 30 play again on Sunday to end the regular season.
— Golden State’s win on Thursday night made it certain that at least two — and maybe as many as four — 45-win teams will wind up missing the playoffs. The last time two teams with at least 45 wins missed the playoffs was 1972.
STAT OF THE DAY
Sacramento never led in its loss to New Orleans on Thursday night, the first time in the Kings’ last 84 games going back to last season’s playoffs that an opponent led them wire-to-wire.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“These are tricky games. We were obviously resting Klay and Draymond, who were banged up, and with the back-to-back we were hoping to take care of business tonight. And Portland, I give them a lot of credit. They played really hard and made things much more difficult on us. But we pulled through in the end.” — Warriors coach Steve Kerr, after his team played without Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and needed to rally late to beat Portland on Thursday.
Credit: AP
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