NBA playoff race heading to thrilling last-night decider
Published:
Two days is all that remains of the NBA regular season. For 11 teams, that 48 hours will be all that is left of the campaign, with a spot in the postseason impossible. For 14 lucky others, playoff-planning is already underway. But, for the remaining five, these next two days ARE their playoffs.
The Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat are in a three-way battle for the last remaining playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, while it’s a straight fight between the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans for the eighth seed in the West.
Out East, it’s the Pacers who hold the aces. They currently sit in eighth spot and have two games left to play, compared to the Nets and Heat’s one each. A win in both will book them a fifth consecutive postseason outing.
They host the Washington Wizards, who have beaten them twice in three meetings this season, before closing out their campaign with a trip to Memphis the following day.
Although those are two of the tougher assignments Indy could have asked for, they still have the best chance of progression. Brooklyn need to beat the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night and hope the Pacers lose one of their last two games to get in.
The Heat meanwhile, need Indiana to drop both remaining games and Orlando to better Indiana while defeating the Philadelphia 76ers in order to seal the eighth seed.
Things out west are far simpler. Either the Pelicans or Thunder will progress to the postseason after they play their last game on Wednesday.
Currently locked in a tie-breaker situation, it is the Pelicans who sit in eighth thanks to winning the season’s head-to-head games with OKC.
However, Anthony Davis’ side face the defending champions San Antonio Spurs, while Russell Westbrook and the Thunder play the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have the league’s worst record. Advantage Thunder.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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