BUENA VISTA LAKE, Florida (AP) – The NBA playoff draw is almost ready.
Wednesday’s results filled five of what were six unknown matchups for Round 1 of the postseason, which begins next week at Walt Disney World.
In the Western Conference: Houston and Oklahoma City will meet in the first round, which means Missile Guard Russell Westbrook and Thunder Guard Chris Paul will have a chance to take on their former teams.
“It will be interesting,” Paul said. “Two teams that know each other well. We will prepare, we will prepare and see what is what. “
Other West matchups that were won on Wednesday include second-seeded Los Angeles Clippers against number 7 from Dallas and number 3 from Denver to number 6 from Utah.
In the east, Miami and Indiana will meet in the first round – after the clubs closed the regular season on Friday against each other to decide which team will be seeded number 4 and which team will be number 5.
Indiana’s victory over Houston on Wednesday established what had been the last two unknown series in the eastern group. Boston’s # 3 will play Philadelphia’s # 6 in a match between longtime rivals, and the Pacers are now locked in an opening streak east against the Heat – with the potential of those teams playing nine times in a span of 10 matches.
Miami beat Indiana on Monday. The teams meet again on Friday, then face off in Game 1 to start a best-of-seven series early next week.
This means that, for the second time since 2011, teams that finish the regular season against each other will open the postseason against each other. The last time this happened was in 2016, when Cleveland faced Detroit.
“It’s nice to know we play them,” said Heat manager Erik Spoelstra. “I just need to figure out which uniform we’re wearing.”
It will be decided on Friday, when the advantage of the home kit will be decided.
“We have to match the energy of Miami,” said Indiana’s Edmond Sumner. “It’s a team that will play hard for 48 minutes.”
The other Eastern matches were previously known: Milwaukee’s # 1 plays Orlando’s # 8 and Toronto’s # 2 plays Brooklyn’s # 7.
In the West, Houston and Oklahoma City will be in the 4-5 matchup and Utah will be the number 6 seed. The Jazz were locked in that slot by the Thunders who defeated Miami, and Denver became the number 3 seed when they lost to the Clippers.
The full list of matchups won’t be known until at least Saturday, when the West play-in series kicks off with Portland, Memphis, Phoenix and San Antonio aiming for those two spots. The winner of that series will face the seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, the only match yet to be determined.
