Attachments
-
GLKJt4DWYAMT-Rk.jpeg
Thunder clinch No. 1 seed for Western Conference playoffs.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 points in one half of action, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled past the Dallas Mavericks 135-86 on Sunday to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.Oklahoma City finished with the same 57-25 record as the Denver Nuggets but own the tiebreaker. The Thunder hadn't finished as the top seed since the 2012-13 season.
The Thunder entered the day in a three-way tie with the Nuggets and Timberwolves for the best record in the Western Conference, the first time in NBA history that's happened. Denver's win over the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota's loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday clinched the No. 2 and 3 seeds for the Nuggets and Timberwolves, respectively.
The Thunder will have to wait for the play-in tournament's conclusion to learn their first-round opponent. The Nuggets will face the winner of the 7-8 play-in game between the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans. Minnesota is locked into a matchup with the No. 6 seed Suns.
NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic and star guard Kyrie Irving were among the four starters the Mavericks rested vs. the Thunder. Doncic had a sore left ankle and Irving had a sore left hamstring. The Mavericks already had clinched the No. 5 seed and a first-round matchup with the LA Clippers.
The other play-in matchup will be between the No. 10 seed Golden State Warriors and No. 9 seed Sacramento Kings. The winner of that game will play the loser of the 7-8 matchup for the right to face the Thunder in the first round.
Knicks clinch No. 2 seed; Sixers to host Heat in play-in.
PHILADELPHIA -- Long after the 76ers emerged with a comfortable 107-86 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in their season finale Sunday at Wells Fargo Center, most of Philadelphia's roster was standing in the locker room watching the final moments of the New York Knicks-Chicago Bulls game 100 miles up Interstate 95.If New York won, it would clinch the second seed and be Philadelphia's potential first-round opponent next weekend. If Chicago won, the Knicks would be third and the Milwaukee Bucks would get the second seed.
Ultimately, the Knicks escaped with a thrilling 120-119 overtime victory after DeMar DeRozan's potential game-winning jumper went wanting. The 76ers -- relegated to the play-in tournament close to an hour earlier by the Orlando Magic's 113-88 victory over the Bucks -- will shift their focus to Wednesday's 7-8 play-in game at home against the Miami Heat.
"Obviously we've had some great battles with them and we always expect that facing them," 76ers coach Nick Nurse said after the win of the prospect of facing Miami. "The mindset is we're playing well and do everything we can, like we've been doing the last month of the year ... digging in and playing our guys and doing whatever we have to, whatever we got to do to win.
"We've got a good mindset and we'll take that into Wednesday."
While Philadelphia ultimately finished in a tie with both the Magic and Indiana Pacers, who walloped the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, Orlando earned the fifth seed by winning the Southeast Division, the three-way tiebreaker.
Indiana then won the head-to-head tiebreaker with Philadelphia thanks to winning the season series 2-1, and thus got the sixth seed and a matchup with the Bucks in the first round.
That relegated Philadelphia to seventh, where the 76ers finished despite ripping off eight straight wins to end the season. They will entertain the Heat after Miami won a second straight game against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday to close the season in eighth.
It was a wild day of results around the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers seemingly went out of their way to ensure that they were the fourth seed by using their end-of-bench players down the stretch and losing to the hapless Charlotte Hornets, who had basically their entire rotation ruled out before the game. The Hornets outscored Cleveland 32-14 in the fourth quarter.
"Yeah, I mean we were trying," Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters after the game. "Again, in live time it's hard to get all that information. We were aware as some of that stuff was going on.
"But once we sat our guys at the end of the third quarter and they had the mindset of not going back in, I didn't want to take any risks of putting them back into the game. When everyone had already cooled down and then something else happens.
"So, you are always aware of it, you are always taking a peek at it but I thought the safety of our guys was the most important thing. When they were shut off, I didn't want to have and ramp them back up to put them late in the fourth quarter when something worse could happen to them. That's what we stuck with."
The loss by Cleveland ensured that the Cavaliers would finish fourth. If the Cavs had won, they would have secured the No. 3 seed by owning the tiebreaker over the Bucks.
Both the Cavs and Bucks losing meant the Knicks would wind up as the second seed with a win. The game went down to the overtime buzzer at MSG, with Chicago -- despite having nothing to play for -- giving the Knicks everything it had before New York finally was able to come out on top.
Four players on both teams played at least 40 minutes, while Donte DiVincenzo was active in all but 29 seconds for New York.
Now, though, he and the Knicks will get a full week off to rest and will watch Wednesday's game in Philadelphia to see who they'll face in the first round of the playoffs. The loser then hosts the winner of the Bulls and Hawks on Friday for the right to face the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round.
The lingering question going into the 7-8 play-in game is the health of the 76ers, especially reigning MVP Joel Embiid, who sat out Sunday's game in what sources told ESPN before the game was a precautionary measure.
Nurse said Embiid will be ready Wednesday.
"He did everything at practice yesterday," Nurse said after the game, "but we decided out of caution to hold him out.
"He'll be ready to go."
Robert Covington, however, will not be, as Nurse said the veteran forward is unlikely to return this season because of a bone bruise in his left knee. The coach also said De'Anthony Melton, who has dealt with back issues for most of 2024, is trending toward not being available either.
| Tuesday, Apr 16, 2024 | |||||||
| |||||||
| 26001 | Boston Celtics | +170 | |||||
| 26007 | Denver Nuggets | +300 | |||||
| 26012 | Los Angeles Clippers | +1100 | |||||
| 26016 | Milwaukee Bucks | +1400 | |||||
| 26020 | Oklahoma City Thunder | +1400 | |||||
| 26006 | Dallas Mavericks | +1600 | |||||
| 26017 | Minnesota Timberwolves | +1800 | |||||
| 26022 | Philadelphia 76ers | +2000 | |||||
| 26023 | Phoenix Suns | +2000 | |||||
| 26013 | Los Angeles Lakers | +2500 | |||||
| 26015 | Miami Heat | +4000 | |||||
| 26005 | Cleveland Cavaliers | +4500 | |||||
| 26019 | New York Knicks | +4500 | |||||
| 26009 | Golden State Warriors | +5000 | |||||
| 26018 | New Orleans Pelicans | +6600 | |||||
| 26011 | Indiana Pacers | +15000 | |||||
| 26021 | Orlando Magic | +15000 | |||||
| 26025 | Sacramento Kings | +15000 | |||||
| 26000 | Atlanta Hawks | +75000 | |||||
| 26004 | Chicago Bulls | +75000 |
| Tuesday, May 07, 2024 | |||||||
| |||||||
| 26216 | Boston Celtics | -195 | |||||
| 26224 | Milwaukee Bucks | +700 | |||||
| 26227 | Philadelphia 76ers | +850 | |||||
| 26225 | New York Knicks | +1000 | |||||
| 26223 | Miami Heat | +1400 | |||||
| 26220 | Cleveland Cavaliers | +1600 | |||||
| 26222 | Indiana Pacers | +4500 | |||||
| 26226 | Orlando Magic | +6600 | |||||
| 26215 | Atlanta Hawks | +30000 | |||||
| 26219 | Chicago Bulls | +30000 |
| |||||||
| 26201 | Denver Nuggets | +160 | |||||
| 26209 | Oklahoma City Thunder | +500 | |||||
| 26204 | LA Clippers | +550 | |||||
| 26200 | Dallas Mavericks | +750 | |||||
| 26207 | Minnesota Timberwolves | +850 | |||||
| 26210 | Phoenix Suns | +1000 | |||||
| 26205 | Los Angeles Lakers | +1600 | |||||
| 26202 | Golden State Warriors | +2800 | |||||
| 26208 | New Orleans Pelicans | +3300 | |||||
| 26212 | Sacramento Kings | +8000 |
How does the NBA play-in tournament work?
There will be six total games involving eight teams as part of the play-in tournament, split up between the two conferences.The teams that finish Nos. 1-6 in each conference will be guaranteed playoff spots, while team Nos. 7-10 in the standings will enter the play-in. Any team that finishes worse than No. 10 will be in the NBA draft lottery.
Here's how the games will work:
- Game 1s: Each conference's No. 7 team in the standings will host the No. 8 team, with the winner earning the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. The losing teams get another chance in Friday's Game 3s.
- Game 2s: Each conference's No. 9 team will host the No. 10 team, with the winner moving on to Game 3. The losers are eliminated and enter the NBA draft lottery.
- Game 3s (Friday): The losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 matchups will host the winners of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 matchups, with the victors grabbing each conference's No. 8 seed in the postseason. The losers of Game 3 enter the NBA draft lottery.
NBA averages record 18,322 per game as attendance up 1.4%.
NEW YORK -- Attendance was up 1.4% in the NBA this season, with the league setting records for ticket sales and sellouts.The total attendance in the regular season that ended Sunday was 22,536,341, the league said -- the second consecutive season in which the NBA set that record. Other records set this season included 872 sellouts, 71% of games selling out and an average attendance of 18,322.
The previous marks in those categories: 22,234,502 for total attendance, 791 sellouts, 63% of games selling out and average attendance of 18,077. All were set in the 2022-23 season.
In all, the league said arenas were filled to 98% capacity, another record.
Part of the reason for the attendance boost was the success of the in-season tournament, which was held this season for the first time in November and December. The NBA's average attendance for those November games around the league was 18,208, another record.
Ten teams -- Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Golden State, Miami, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Sacramento -- sold out every game. Fans from more than 150 countries and territories purchased tickets to games, the league said.
Sources: Bucks preparing to be without Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Milwaukee Bucks are preparing to be without two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for the start of their Eastern Conference first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, but are hopeful treatment on his left calf strain will allow him to return sometime later in the series, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.Antetokounmpo has been undergoing around-the-clock treatment on the calf, sources said.
The third-seeded Bucks open the series against the sixth-seeded Pacers on Sunday in Milwaukee. The Pacers won four of five regular-season games against the Bucks.
Antetokounmpo missed the final three regular-season games after crumpling to the floor with a noncontact injury a week ago against the Boston Celtics.
Antetokounmpo ended the regular season averaging 30.4 points on a career-best 61% shooting with 11.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists. He's the first player in NBA history to average 30 points per game on 60% shooting, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.
Winner gets the Nuggets
Everyone makes a run
