Wins by the Orlando, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Chicago on Friday night have locked in the playoff seeds for all six Eastern Conference playoff teams, along with the four play-in clubs.
Here’s how the top 10 teams in the East will finish the regular season, as the NBA confirms (via Twitter):
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Boston Celtics
- New York Knicks
- Indiana Pacers
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Detroit Pistons
- Orlando Magic
- Atlanta Hawks
- Chicago Bulls
- Miami Heat
The play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference will feature the Magic hosting the Hawks on Tuesday and the Bulls hosting the Heat on Wednesday. The Orlando/Atlanta winner will claim the No. 7 spot in the playoffs and face the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. The loser of that game will host the Chicago/Miami winner on Friday for the No. 8 spot and the right to face the Cavaliers in round one.
The Knicks will match up with the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs, while the Pacers and Bucks will meet in round one for a second consecutive year, with Indiana claiming home court advantage this time around.
We got a little more clarity on the Western Conference playoff picture by the end of Friday night, with the Lakers clinching the No. 3 seed by beating Houston and the Grizzlies now locked into the play-in tournament as a result of their loss to Denver. However, there are still several playoff berths and seeds up in the air, with the Nuggets, Clippers, Warriors, and Timberwolves vying for the final three spots in the West’s top six.
37-44 makes the playoffs.
Once again, the lesser conference, everyone.
No divisions, no conferences, top 12 teams make the playoffs is the only way….of course no professional sport will ever agree to that. Nor the fans let’s be honest.
@braveshomer
You post made me really think about this so I’m going to longpost…it really is stupid how much the schedule plays into the success of some teams who appear “successful” during the regular season, but get swept in the first round. If you have 2 teams tanking in your division, you get to feast on them all year, whereas other teams will miss the playoffs because their div was tough, but that team is better than the team who feasts on rebuilding teams all year. Unfair scheduling really ticks me off to be honest. All USA pro sports leagues except the NFL should remove divisions and have all the teams play each other equal amounts of times home and away during the regular season – that will remove all the phony teams who get lucky schedules or who face a lot of good teams who just happen to have injuries that night. It might mean more or less games but it will narrow down who the actual-best teams are, way better than what we are doing now.
MLB teams play 29 opponents 6 times (3 home, 3 away). 174 game season is close to 162. It will also mean only the top 4 teams need to play in the playoffs (1v4, 2v3), so you have longer playoffs series instead of more of them. Best of 9 or even 11 games to give length/drama to them.
NBA teams play 29 opponents either 2 times (1 home 1 away) (58 game season) or 4 times (2 home, 2 away) (116 game season). Unfortunately unlike MLB, the NBA season is right in the middle of the 2. Figuring out who actually are the best regular season teams means this activity is for removing playoff series, not expanding them, so the NBA has to move in one direction or another. Have a 116 game season with only the top 4 teams making the playoffs (1v4, 2v3) would be a jolt to the league, but maybe one that would work.
NHL would mean playing 31 opponents 2 times (1 home 1 away) for a 62 game season, cutting it down from 82, because if they play each other 4 times, it would require a 124 game season, that’s almost MLB-length, not sure NHL players would like that. If going with the 62 game season, same as the above, top 4 teams make the playoffs, but make the playoffs longer.
NFL would mean every team playing 31 opponents – even doing that one time would change the game forever. Impossible.
MLS would mean playing 14 opponents 4 times (2 home/2 away) for a 56 game season. This would expand the season a bit but not as bad as the NBA.
This would improve the regular season in all these leagues by a long way I think.
Both conferences have multiple teams under .500 making it…
Top 8 in the East ALWAYS has an under .500 team in it. Can’t say the same for the west.
This is unbelievable…wow
Play-in is ridiculous. Stop this nonsense.
It’s stupid how the playin tournament is the 7 vs 8 and 9 vs 10. It should be 7 vs 10 and 8 vs 9.. the lesser record gets in makes no sense.
Why ????
Last two teams play for last spot. Next two last teams play for other spot. Hence the name. Play-in
Neither of you understand the way it works. The 7th team has the easiest route, the 10th has the hardest. To get in, each team must do the following:
7 must win one of two, both at home
8 must win one of two, one at home
9 must win two, one at home
10 must win two on the road
And 39-42 makes it in the West. Amazing how the brain doesn’t work for clowns…..
Once again the East will have the Trophy.
Most HOF players by teams — Real talent
For all you Rookies. The East taught you ball …….. Learn the history. Or what do you really know ????? Bobble heads
NYC — with total (47) yup yup
1- Celtics (41)
2- Lakers (34)
3- Knicks (29)
4- Warriors (26) was an East team
5 – Hawks (26
6- Pistons (26)
7- Sixers (21)
8- Kings (21) was an East team
9- Wizards (20)
10- Nets (18)
11- Bucks (17)
12- Rockets (17)
13- Nuggets (15)
14- Spurs (14)
15- Bulls (13)
16- Pacers (12)
17- Thunder (12)
18- Suns (11)
19- Clippers (11) was an East team
20- Cavaliers (9)
21- Jazz (9)
22- Blazers (8)
23- Heat (8)
24- Mavericks (7)
25- Magic (7)
26- Raptors (4)
27- Hornets (3)
28- TimberWolves (2)
29- Grizzlies (2)
30- Pelicans (0)
The East has won 41 Chips. The West 36. With Lakers winning 17. So the West REALLY sucks….
Cavs or Celtics this year …..
link to google.com
I’m not judging which conference is better; I don’t care. But, you might have some errors. The Bucks, Hawks and Pistons were originally Western Conference teams. The Warriors won 2 Chips while in the East. And, the Celtics have won 18 Chips.
I would also point out. The two players with the most Chips, Bill Russell and KC Jones, went to High School and College in the SF Bay Area.