The NBA playoffs begin on April 15, and the race went down to the final day. In the end, the Boston Celtics will be the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls slipped in at the Miami Heat’s expense, barring a late change.
NBA playoff standings 2017: Who’s in and who’s out after the final night of action
The NBA regular season ended Wednesday. The Celtics are the No. 1 seed, while Indiana and Chicago slipped in.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Boston rallied in its finale against the Bucks, while the Cavaliers got pounded by Toronto. That clinched a two-game advantage in the standings for Boston.
Both the Pacers and Bulls caught breaks when their opponents decided to rest key players for the finale. Indiana held off the Hawks, while the Bulls dismantled Brooklyn at home. The Heat defeated the Wizards, but ended up losing out to the Bulls due to tiebreakers.
The West playoffs are mostly set, but home-court advantage is still on the line in the Clippers-Jazz series.
The draft lottery positioning, on the other hand, remains far from settled. With so many teams bunched up after the No. 4 slot, a lot changed on the season’s final day.
Last update: April 12, 10:30 p.m ET.
Here are your playoff matchups ...
WESTERN CONFERENCE
(1) Golden State Warriors vs. (8) Portland Trail Blazers
(2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (7) Memphis Grizzlies
(3) Houston Rockets vs. (6) Oklahoma City Thunder
(4) Los Angeles Clippers vs. (5) Utah Jazz (seeding could flip)
EASTERN CONFERENCE
(1) Boston Celtics vs. (8) Chicago Bulls
(2) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (7) Indiana Pacers
(3) Toronto Raptors vs. (6) Milwaukee Bucks
(4) Washington Wizards vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks
How the important playoff races were decided
No. 1 SEED IN THE EAST
1. Celtics: 53-29
2. Cavaliers: 51-31
This became Boston’s to lose after consecutive Cavaliers losses to Atlanta. Cleveland was in the driver’s seat, but back-to-back defeats to Atlanta — once when the Hawks sat key players, once after blowing a 26-point fourth quarter lead — allowed the Celtics to sneak ahead.
THE 3-6 SEEDS IN THE EAST
3. Raptors: 51-31
4. Wizards: 49-33
5. Hawks: 43-39
6. Bucks: 42-40
The Hawks secured the No. 5 seed on Tuesday night, beating the Hornets. This locked the Bucks into the sixth seed.
A Washington home loss to Miami on Saturday allowed Toronto to wrap up the No. 3 seed with a Sunday victory over the Knicks.
NO. 7 AND NO. 8 SEEDS IN THE EAST
7. Pacers: 42-40
8. Bulls: 41-41
9. Heat: 41-41
The Pacers and Bulls got in due to victories over shorthanded Hawks and Nets teams. The Heat beat a resting Wizards squad, but lost out because the Bulls won the head-to-head series.
THE TOP 3 SEEDS IN THE WEST
1. Golden State: 66-15
2. San Antonio: 61-20
3. Houston: 55-27
Golden State regained control of this race and punctuated their status with a convincing road win in San Antonio.
No. 4 SEED IN THE WEST
4. LA Clippers: 50-31
5. Utah 50-31
This will be the 4-5 matchup, but home-court is still up in the air. A Clippers win in San Antonio, combined with a Jazz loss to a red-hot Damian Lillard and the Blazers, allowed L.A. to leap ahead. Utah must defeat the Spurs and hope that the Clippers drop their finale to a Kings team with every incentive to lose to leap ahead.
Current tiebreaker: The Clippers hold a 3-1 advantage over Utah.
Remaining schedules
JAZZ: vs. Spurs
CLIPPERS: vs. Kings
THE NO. 6 AND 7 SEEDS
6. Oklahoma City: 46-36
7. Memphis: 43-39
THE NO. 8 SEED
8. Portland: 41-40
9. Denver: 40-42
Denver was officially eliminated by a Russell Westbrook 35-foot buzzer beater.
Current tiebreaker: Portland won the season series over Denver, 3-1.
TWO TEAMS TIED
(1) Better winning percentage in games against each other
(2) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if tied teams are in same division).
(3) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference.
(4) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position).
(5) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in opposite conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position).
(6) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents (“point differential”).
MORE THAN TWO TEAMS TIED
(1) Better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams.
(2) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if all tied teams are in the same division).
(3) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference.
(4) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position).
(5) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents (“point differential”)
Important Lottery Notes
The highest odds at the No. 1 overall pick are headed to the Brooklyn Nets. That pick, though, is headed to Boston, but there are a few competitions that could make for some interesting end-of-the-year tank sessions across the board.
PICKS NO. 2 AND 3
2. Suns: 24-58
3. Lakers: 26-55
Thanks to a five-game winning streak, the Lakers “fell” to the third-worst lottery odds for this year’s upcoming draft. If L.A. picks fourth or later, the pick moves to the 76ers, and their 2019 first-round pick goes to Orlando. Yikes.
Remaining schedules
SUNS: Season over
LAKERS: at Warriors
PICKS NO. 4 AND 5
4. Philadelphia: 28-54
5. Orlando: 29-53
The Sixers secured the No. 4 slot when a horrible buzzer-beating attempt missed against the Knicks.
PICKS NO. 6 AND BEYOND
6. New York: 31-51
7. Minnesota: 31-51
8. Kings: 32-49
9. Pelicans: 33-48
10. Mavericks: 33-49
11. Hornets: 36-46
12. Pistons: 37-45
13. Nuggets: 40-42
14. Heat: 41-41
The bottom of the draft lottery could change with a few different results. If teams tie, a random drawing will determine which team gets one additional lottery ball.
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