The winner of the Boston duel between the Celtics, who finished seventh in the conference, and the Wizards, eighth, will qualify for the playoffs and play the first round against the Brooklyn Nets of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.
The loser will still have a second chance to advance to the playoffs if he can beat the winner of Tuesday’s second game between the Pacers, 9th from the East, and the Hornets, 10th, on his court.
That last game will be played on Thursday and the winner will face in the first round of playoffs the leader of the East, Joel Embiid’s Sixers.
In between, the ‘play in’ of the Western conference will be played on Wednesday and Friday, which will start with the fast-paced match between the Lakers (7th) and the Warriors (8th) and between the Grizzlies (9th) and the Spurs (10th).
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