This handout photo provided by the Dallas Mavericks shows Houston Rockets defenders Reggie Bullock Jr. (25) and Jabari Smith Jr. (10) playing NBA basketball on Sunday, April 7, 2024 in Dallas. Jalen Green (4) watches the end of the fourth quarter of a game. (Dallas Mavericks, via AP)
The final week of the NBA season has arrived.
With no games on Monday (the league typically tries not to play games on the night of the NCAA Men's Championship Game), the schedule resumes on Tuesday with 14 games, 13 of which will be played in at least some form. Involved in the playoffs.
Tuesday's big game: A preview of the play-in tournament where Golden State will likely visit the Los Angeles Lakers. Teams with championship pedigree could face each other in an elimination game next week.
This week is all about playoff placement. In the East, Milwaukee, Orlando, New York and Cleveland are likely to finish 2-5 in some order. In the West, Denver, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City will almost certainly finish 1-2-3 (again, in order). The Los Angeles Clippers appeared to be all but locked into fourth place.
National TV schedule for Tuesday
That day's lineup includes every team except Cleveland and Brooklyn, with two games to be nationally televised.
7:30 p.m. Eastern — Boston, Milwaukee, TNT/TruTV
10:00 PM ET — Golden State at Los Angeles Lakers, TNT/TruTV
Who's in and who's out?
The only seed locked up is No. 1 in the East, which Boston captured a few weeks ago.
Denver, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City qualified for the Western Conference playoffs. Boston and Milwaukee earned spots in the Eastern Conference.
There are still 20 teams vying for the Larry O'Brien Trophy when the regular season ends on Sunday, and those 20 spots have already been taken, with Chicago and Atlanta set to play in next week's play-in tournament. It becomes.
Philadelphia, Miami, New Orleans, Sacramento, Lakers and Golden State also currently hold play-in spots.
Brooklyn, Toronto, Charlotte, Washington, Detroit, Houston, Utah, Memphis, Portland and San Antonio were all eliminated from postseason contention.
Betting guide
Boston has home court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs and is currently the favorite to win, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The Celtics are listed at +170, well ahead of defending champion Denver (+360). Next are Milwaukee (+800), Clippers (+850) and Oklahoma City (+1400).
What you need to know
Tyrese Maxey scored at least 50 points in his third game this season, tied for the league's best, leading Philadelphia to a 133-126 double-overtime victory over Victor Wembaneyama and the San Antonio Spurs. Maxey, Philadelphia teammate Joel Embiid and Phoenix's Devin Booker all played three 50-plus games this season. With this win, the 76ers moved past Miami into seventh place in the East.
— On the day Golden State clinched a postseason berth, Klay Thompson scored 32 points and the Warriors beat Utah despite not resting Stephen Curry.
— The Clippers rallied from a 26-point deficit to beat Cleveland 120-118. This is tied for the second-most come-from-behind wins in the NBA this season and marks the third time the Clippers won by at least 20 points.
today's status
He had more assists this season than ever before. The NBA's previous season record was 62,279. The total since Sunday was 62,597. This is the third consecutive season that the NBA has broken the all-time assists record, and the sixth time in the past eight years.
quote of the day
“The players are getting better at the right time.'' — Orlando coach Jamal Mosley, whose Magic beat Chicago to improve to 22-9 in their last 31 games.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
