The NBA is preparing to close its regular season which started back in October. More than six months of games, records and exploits, to make way for the Play-In, which will be next, and the Playoffs, that will put the final culmination of the season. But first, many things to decide on the last date of matches that will be played entirely on Sunday in the Spanish afternoon/night with two times, 7:00 p.m. for almost all the games with teams from the East, and 9:30 p.m. when the from West.
Western Conference, the leader in play
Almost all the focus will be on three games, which involve the three leaders of the West who must decide their first three positions. And the accounts are clear: almost all combinations They favor the team that now leads the conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder who host the Dallas Mavericks. The Texans, by the way, without anything at stake because they will be fifth no matter what happens.
Los Thunder will retain their first place in the event that the three leaders win their games (the three are 56-25). The Minnesota Timberwolves is measured against the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets visit the Memphis Grizzlies. In case of a triple tie, Oklahoma would be first, Minnesota second and Denver third. The Nuggets also lose the tiebreaker with OKC and Minnesota, so the champions can only be first if they win and their two rivals lose. It is the punishment for their unexpected defeat in San Antonio.
In the case of a tie between OKC and Minnesota, are the Timberwolves those who would overtake their rival, that is, the Wolves need a victory and also for Oklahoma to win (if they lose it would also be worth it), but also in that case for Denver to lose. First place in the West does not give the conference title, that is won in the Playoffsbut he assures to play all the series with the home court factor in his favor.
Under, the Clippers, fourth, the Mavericks, fifth, they can exchange their positions. And Dallas can’t drop to sixth place either. Those who do play a lot are the Pelicanssixth, who face the Lakers in New Orleans, y los Sunsseventh, who visit Minnesota. The Pelicans’ victory leaves things as they are, but if they lose they open the door to sixth place for Phoenix, as long as they win. The difference between being sixth and seventh is avoiding playing the dreaded Play-In.
They will have to play that tournament Lakers (eighth), Kings (ninth) and Warriors (tenth). Between the three of them they will have to decide the final position. To be eighth, the Lakers need to win, the Kings need to win and the defeat of LA and Golden State requires the victory and defeat of their two rivals. The Lakers, eighth, could still be tenth if they lose and the Kings and Warriors win.
Eastern Conference: mess behind Boston
In the East everything is less striking, because the Boston Celtics established a tremendous dominance in the Conference a lot has been done, but that does not mean that there are not things left to decide. And lots.
Second place, for example. Now it is Milwaukee (49-32), but has the Knicks (49-32) and Cavaliers (48-33) very close. The Bucks need to beat Orlando to secure second place. But it would be for New York if Giannis’s team falls and those from the ‘Big Apple’ beat Chicago. If they both lose, the door would open for Cleveland, as long as they beat Charlotte. The third and fourth places will be shared between the three. Cleveland has won the tiebreaker against Milwaukee.
There is more trouble behind, to decide the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth places in the East. Orlando (46-35), Indiana (46-35), Philadelphia (46-35) y Miami (45-36), they crave that position and the scenarios are many. Especially the triple tie, as it is now. The Magic host the Bucks, the Pacers the Hawks, the Sixers the Nets and the Heat the Raptors. If they all win, a triple tie that should normally be resolved with the confrontations between them, and that would result in a classification with Philly, Indiana y Orlando. But here comes an NBA rule that in the event of a tie, the division titles are taken into account. If the Magic beat Milwaukee, they would win the southeast division title and therefore fifth place, instead of seventh. If an almost impossible scenario of defeats of Orlando, Philadelphia and Indiana and victory for Miami, It would be the Heat who would occupy fifth place, for the same tiebreaker reason, with Philadelphia, Indiana and Orlando behind.
2024-04-14 11:20:36
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