NEW YORK — Another NBA season has come down to its final day to determine playoff positioning and who is banished to purgatory, the Play-In Tournament. Only, the drama doesn’t get started until a little later Sunday.
Game No. 82 is Sunday for the league’s 30 teams, and in the Western Conference, seeds four through 10 are yet to be settled. The East’s playoff picture is settled in full, which means nothing can be gained by any of the seven games that start at 1 p.m. Eastern. The league’s eight games in the 3:30 slot are where fates will be determined.
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The intrigue is anchored by the 3:30 p.m. ET tilt between the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers — the winner is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs as a top-six seed. The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves can also lock up playoff seeds with wins and the Clippers could potentially get in even with a loss to the Warriors.
The Memphis Grizzlies are likely set for the No. 8 in the West — which means two chances to win one Play-In game to advance to the playoffs, but the first game would be on the road, unless they beat the Dallas Mavericks and the Timberwolves lose to Utah.
The Sacramento Kings and Mavericks are going to be ninth or 10th in the West, which means they have to win two Play-In games to get the No. 8 seed in the Western playoffs. The Kings would host Dallas in the 9-10 game, unless Sacramento loses to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday and the Mavs win in Memphis.
Got it?
Here are, we hope, the easiest ways to follow how all the action could unfold out West on the final day of the NBA season. (All times are ET.)
Denver Nuggets at Houston Rockets, 3:30 p.m.
We start here because a Nuggets win gives them the No. 4 seed in the West. Denver, which fired coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth last week, has won both of its games since those stunning dismissals and will play a Rockets team that has already sewn up the No. 2 seed in the West.
The only scenario in which Denver does not get a top-six seed, and must toil through the Play-In, is with a loss to Houston, a Minnesota win over Utah and a Warriors win over the Clippers.
Los Angeles Clippers at Golden State Warriors, 3:30 p.m.
The Clippers will be the fourth or fifth seed in the West with a win, depending on what happens with Denver. The best the Warriors could do is sixth with a win, which, by the way, would mean a first-round playoff series featuring Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green’s Warriors against LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers as the third seed. Think anyone would watch that?
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The Clippers were buoyed all season by James Harden, Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac, until Kawhi Leonard was healthy enough to play through chronic knee trouble. The Warriors largely floundered until their trade for Butler at the February deadline and are now in a position to achieve the first of their lofty goals for the season — avoid the Play-In. The franchises’ coaches, Steve Kerr and Tyronn Lue, have a long history as adversaries (coaching against each other in three consecutive finals when Lue coached Cleveland) and also as friends, as Lue was on Kerr’s staff the last two summers with Team USA.
Golden State can still be the sixth seed with a loss, if the Timberwolves also lose Sunday. The Clippers can lose to Golden State and still make the playoffs if the Nuggets or Timberwolves lose.
Utah Jazz at Minnesota Timberwolves, 3:30 p.m.
The Wolves are at home and Utah has no organizational incentive to win this game. The Jazz, at 17-64, are tied with Washington for the NBA’s worst record, which means they share the best odds for landing the No. 1 pick in the draft.
And yet, whoever coach Will Hardy puts on the floor Sunday will certainly try to win the game for the Jazz. Players, especially young ones trying to put together highlight tapes for potential suitors next season, do not care about draft position.
There is more intrigue. Anthony Edwards was assessed his 18th technical foul on Friday for swearing at an official. Unless the NBA rescinds the technical, Edwards, an All-NBA-caliber player, will be suspended for the game.
Minnesota can finish as high as fourth with a win, coupled with losses by the Clippers and Nuggets. The Timberwolves are fifth with a win and a loss by either the Clippers or Nuggets (but not both); sixth if they, the Nuggets and Clippers all win; seventh if they lose and the Grizzlies lose, and eighth if they lose and Memphis wins.
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Dallas Mavericks at Memphis Grizzlies, 3:30 p.m.
Both teams’ chances of improving their seeding in the Play-In (explained earlier) are small, so it remains to be seen how hard either side goes after this win Sunday with a stressful week ahead. They have each endured significant trauma. The Mavericks traded Dončić for Anthony Davis, who sustained an injury in his Dallas debut and missed 18 games, and lost Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL on March 3. The Grizzlies were as high as second in the West last month, but ended up firing coach Taylor Jenkins with Ja Morant recovering from injury and the team in a tailspin.
Memphis probably has more to gain of the two. A Grizzlies win and Timberwolves loss would mean two chances at home to win one Play-In game.
Phoenix Suns at Sacramento Kings, 3:30 p.m.
The Suns — who have already been eliminated from postseason contention — are one of the NBA’s chief disappointments for the season. Kevin Durant is out and a summer of change probably lies ahead. With all of the previous caveats mentioned earlier about the danger of playing against teams with nothing to gain, the Kings should be able to secure the No. 9 seed and a home game against Dallas this week in the Play-In.
Honorable mentions
The Oklahoma City Thunder own the league’s best record and the No. 1 seed in the West. The Cleveland Cavaliers are the top seed in the East, followed by the defending-champion Boston Celtics and third seed New York Knicks, who went 0-10 against the Thunder, Cavs and Celtics this season. The Detroit Pistons more than tripled their win total from last season, going from the league’s worst record to No. 6 in the East, with a first-round series set against the Knicks. The Indiana Pacers will host the Milwaukee Bucks in the 4-5 matchup in the East, while the Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat finished seventh through 10th, respectively, with corresponding Play-In matchups ahead.
(Photo of Stephen Curry and James Harden: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
