The regular season ends tonight. NBAthe Eastern Conference already has everything decided since Friday, but the ‘wild’ West has a lot to decide.
The final positions of the Playoffs and the configuration of the Play-In tournament will be defined at the end of the day. Eyes will be primarily on the Clippers, Warriors, Lakers and Pelicans.
Two guaranteed playoff spots and three Play-In Tournament spots in the Western Conference will be decided tonight.
The rest of the spots are secured, with the Nuggets leading the conference, the Grizzlies second, the Kings third, and the Suns fourth. These teams already know that they will be local in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
On the other hand, OKC Thunder will be ranked tenth in the West, meaning that they will play the Play-In tournament playing as a visitor and hoping to win two games to get into the Playoffs as the 8th place in the West.
Fifth through ninth place in the West is decided among five teams: LA Clippers (No. 5 entering Sunday at 43-38), Golden State (No. 6, 43-38), LA Lakers (No. 7, 42- 39), New Orleans (No. 8, 42-39) and Minnesota (No. 9, 41-40).
The NBA communications department presented a graph with the 16 different scenarios that can occur tonight with these five teams.
New Orleans is the only team that can finish fifth or ninth at the end of the day.
The Clippers would be fifth in 10 of the 16 scenarios; sixth in three stages and seventh in another three stages.
The Warriors would be fifth in four scenarios, sixth in seven scenarios, seventh in three scenarios, and eighth in two scenarios.
The Lakers will be sixth in three stages, seventh in four stages, eighth in nine stages.
The Pelicans will be fifth in two stages, sixth in three stages, seventh in two stages, eighth in one stage and ninth in eight stages.
The Timberwolves (who only aspire to the Play-In) will be seventh in four scenarios, eighth in four scenarios and ninth in eight other scenarios.
Clippers – Suns y Warriors – Trail Blazers
- For the Clippers and Warriors, the formula is pretty simple: win and guarantee yourself a top-six spot in the playoffs and a first-round matchup with the Kings, if they finish sixth, or the Suns, if they finish fifth and avoid the Play-off. in.
- Considering a loss could land the Warriors or Clippers in the Play-In, it may not be worth the risk to try to pick your playoff opponent.
Pelicans vs Timberwolves
- Things are pretty simple on the other end of the seedings, too. The loser of the game between the Pelicans and Timberwolves is guaranteed to finish ninth and host Oklahoma City in the Play-In Tournament game between ninth and 10th on Wednesday.
- A Minnesota win clinches them in the Play-In Tournament No. 7 vs. No. 8, giving them two chances to win a game to clinch a playoff spot. A Minnesota win and a Lakers win would put the Wolves at No. 8. A Minnesota win and a Lakers loss would put the Wolves at No. 7.
- A New Orleans win means the worst they could do is the Play-In Tournament No. 7 game vs. No. 8, while being given five stages to earn a top-six spot in the playoffs.
- A win by the Pelicans, Phoenix and Portland would move New Orleans to No. 5, regardless of the Lakers vs. Jazz.
Lakers – Utah Jazz
- For the Lakers, a loss to Utah locks them in 8th place and they would have to play on the road in the Play-In Tournament game No. 7 vs. No. 8. They can also finish eighth with a win over Utah, with wins by New Orleans, Golden State and Phoenix.
The Lakers can bypass the Play-In and win the No. 6 seed with:
- A win over Utah along with wins by Minnesota (over New Orleans) and Portland (over Golden State); the Lakers would get No. 6 regardless of the outcome of the LA Clippers vs. Phoenix
- A win over Utah combined with wins by New Orleans (over Minnesota), Portland (over Golden State) and the LA Clippers (over Phoenix)
The matches start at 2:30 pm Panama time.
