The final day of the season provided clarity to the East playoff picture, but we’re not out of the woods yet. The Pacers must win to clinch the No. 8 seed.
Your 2015 NBA Eastern Conference playoff picture and tiebreaker guide
The Bulls-Bucks and Raptors-Wizards series are set, while the Pacers need to win to take the No. 8 seed back from Brooklyn.
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Last updated: Includes results from early games played on 4/15/15. Brooklyn won to keep its hopes for the No. 8 seed alive, so the Pacers must beat Memphis to snatch it back. The Bulls and Raptors both won, so Chicago takes the No. 3 seed.
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Current playoff picture
This is the Too Long; Didn’t Read version. If the season ended today, here are your first-round matchups. The seeds that are locked in are in ALL CAPS.
HAWKS (1) vs. Pacers/Nets (8)
RAPTORS (4) vs. WIZARDS (5)
CAVALIERS (2) vs. CELTICS (7)
BULLS (3) vs. BUCKS (6)
Standings
Obviously, tiebreakers only matter if the teams are tied. There is one oddity here: division winners cannot be seeded below No. 4. But division winners don’t get home-court advantage against teams higher than them in the standings anyway.
Here’s the final race for the No. 3 and 4 spots.
3. Bulls 50-32 --4. Raptors 49-33 1
And here’s the race for the last spot.
8. Nets 38-44 -- 9. Pacers 38-43 0.5
Tiebreaker Situations
If teams finish the season tied in the standings, these tiebreakers will decide berths and seeds.
BROOKLYN over Indiana (H2H)
Head-to-Head Data
This is the head-to-head data used in the above tiebreaker breakdown.
The following table shows each playoff contender’s record against other playoff contenders. BOLD indicates one of the teams has clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker for the season. ITALICS indicates a season series tie. An asterisk indicates the teams will play only three times this season. Otherwise, the teams play each other four times.
| X | ATL | CLE | TOR | CHI | WAS | MIL | IND | CHA | MIA | BOS | BKN |
| ATL | -- | ATL 3-1 | TOR 3-1 | ATL 2-0* | ATL 3-1 | ATL 3-1 | ATL 3-0* | 2-2 | ATL 4-0 | ATL 2-1* | ATL 4-0 |
| CLE | ATL 3-1 | -- | CLE 3-1 | CLE 3-1 | CLE 2-1 | CLE 3-1 | 2-2 | CLE 3-0* | 2-2 | 2-2 | CLE 3-1 |
| TOR | TOR 3-1 | CLE 3-1 | -- | CHI 4-0 | TOR 3-0* | TOR 2-1* | TOR 3-0* | 2-2 | TOR 2-1* | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| CHI | ATL 2-0* | CLE 3-1 | CHI 4-0 | -- | 2-2 | CHI 4-0 | 2-2 | 2-2 | CHI 2-1* | CHI 3-1 | CHI 3-1 |
| WAS | ATL 3-1 | CLE 3-1 | TOR 3-0* | 2-2 | -- | WAS 2-1* | 2-2 | 2-2 | WAS 3-1 | WAS 2-1* | 2-2 |
| MIL | ATL 3-1 | CLE 3-1 | TOR 2-1* | CHI 4-0 | WAS 2-1* | -- | 2-2 | CHA 2-1* | MIL 4-0 | MIL 2-1* | MIL 3-1 |
| IND | ATL 3-0* | 2-2 | TOR 3-0* | 2-2 | 2-2 | 2-2 | -- | IND 3-1 | IND 3-1 | BOS 3-1 | BKN 2-1* |
| CHA | 2-2 | CLE 3-0* | 2-2 | 2-2 | 2-2 | CHA 2-1* | IND 3-1 | -- | 2-2 | 2-2 | BKN 2-1* |
| MIA | ATL 4-0 | 2-2 | TOR 2-1* | CHI 2-1* | WAS 3-1 | MIL 4-0 | IND 3-1 | 2-2 | -- | MIA 3-1 | MIA 4-0 |
| BOS | ATL 2-1* | 2-2 | 2-2 | CHI 3-1 | WAS 2-1* | MIL 2-1* | BOS 3-1 | 2-2 | MIA 3-1 | -- | BOS 3-1 |
| BKN | ATL 4-0 | CLE 3-1 | 2-2 | CHI 3-1 | 2-2 | MIL 3-1 | BKN 2-1* | BKN 2-1* | MIA 4-0 | BOS 3-1 | -- |
Be sure to also see our Guide to the West Tiebreakers.
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