The NBA's playoff chase enters its final days. Here's a look at what's happening
It’s playoff-positioning time in the NBA
It’s playoff-positioning time in the NBA.
Going into Thursday, there are 89 games left in the season. The 10 Eastern Conference postseason teams are set; Cleveland, Boston, New York and Indiana are in the playoffs, Detroit and Milwaukee are on the brink of joining them, while Orlando, Atlanta, Miami and Chicago are in the likely play-in field.
In the Western Conference, Oklahoma City is the No. 1 seed and Houston is in the playoffs. The Los Angeles Lakers, Denver, Golden State and Minnesota enter Thursday holding playoff spots, with the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis chasing them and trying to stay out of the play-in. Dallas and Sacramento are fighting for play-in berths, with Phoenix, Portland and San Antonio still alive for those as well.
Add it up, and 23 of the 30 teams are still playing for something other than lottery odds with a week-and-a-half to go in the regular season.
Orlando at Washington — Big for the Magic in terms of East play-in seeding.
Milwaukee at Philadelphia — The Bucks are on the brink of clinching a playoff berth.
Minnesota at Brooklyn — Not a must-win, but might feel like it for Wolves in their quest to avoid the play-in.
Memphis at Miami — Grizzlies are sliding (lost four straight), Heat are sizzling (won six straight).
Portland at Toronto — Blazers’ slim hopes for West play-in probably would require winning out.
Golden State at LA Lakers — Potential first-round matchup. Stephen Curry. LeBron James. Need we say more?
It’s a TNT doubleheader Thursday, with Grizzlies-Heat at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and Warriors-Lakers at 10 p.m. Eastern.
NBA TV has a doubleheader Friday: Phoenix at Boston (7:30 p.m.) and Denver at Golden State (10 p.m.).
Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by Boston (+190), Cleveland (+500), then Denver and the Lakers (both +1400) and Golden State (+1600).
April 11 — All 30 NBA teams play.
April 12 — No games.
April 13 — All 30 NBA teams play, end of regular season.
April 15 — The No. 7 and No. 8 finishers in both conferences play to start the play-in tournament. Winners are the No. 7 seed for the playoffs; losers will host play-in elimination games on April 18.
April 16 — The No. 9 and No. 10 finishers in both conferences play. Winners move on to April 18; losers are finished for the season.
April 18 — The April 15 game losers play host to the April 16 game winners. Winners are the No. 8 seed for the playoffs; losers are finished for the season.
April 19 — NBA playoffs begin.
—Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has 69 consecutive 20-point games, something only Wilt Chamberlain (who twice had 80-game single-season streaks), Oscar Robertson (who had a 76-game single-season streak) and Michael Jordan (who had a 69-game single-season streak) have done in the same season. OKC plays Friday at Houston.
—The league record for 3-pointers made in a season is on pace to fall on Sunday. There have been 30,853 made 3s so far this season; the record is 31,579, set last season.
—Boston (1,356) is seven 3-pointers away from matching the single-season team record, set two years ago by Golden State. The Celtics are on pace to break that mark Friday at home against Phoenix.
—For the first time, the NBA could have three players make 300 3-pointers in a season. Detroit’s Malik Beasley has 295, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards has 292 and Golden State’s Stephen Curry has 282.
San Antonio’s Chris Paul, a month or so shy of turning 40, is the NBA’s second-oldest player behind LeBron James. And Paul is on pace to start all 82 games this season — which would make him the second-oldest player in NBA history to do so, behind Utah’s John Stockton.
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