Three playoff spots are up for grabs in the East, while the West seeding could go anywhere. Here’s a breakdown of where we stand.
The 2018-19 NBA regular season ends on Wednesday. Thirteen of the 16 playoff spots have been claimed, but the seeding situation remains a mess. We’ll keep this guide updated through Wednesday to provide some clear info on what teams need to do to either lock up their playoff bid or preferred seed.
Here’s a quick breakdown on tiebreakers:
- If teams have equal overall records, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head record.
- If that is tied and one of the teams involved won their division, they receive the nod.
- If the teams are in the same division and neither won the division, the next tiebreaker is record within the division.
- If the teams are in different divisions and neither or both won their division, the next tiebreaker is conference record.
- The next tiebreaker is record against playoff teams in their own conference.
- We’re getting deep into the weeds now. The next tiebreaker is record against playoff teams in the other conference.
- The next tiebreaker is overall point differential.
- If even that can’t settle matters, there’s a random drawing.
Three- and four-way ties have similar but slightly more complicated tiebreaking criteria.
The NBA playoffs begin on Saturday, April 13.
Last Updated: Friday, April 5
Eastern Conference
Teams that have clinched spots
Milwaukee Bucks
Toronto Raptors
Philadelphia 76ers
Boston Celtics
Indiana Pacers
Playoff spots remaining: 3
Teams still eligible to make playoffs
Detroit Pistons
Brooklyn Nets
Orlando Magic
Miami Heat
Charlotte Hornets
Seeds clinched
Bucks, No. 1
Raptors, No. 2
Seed ranges
Sixers: Nos. 3-5 (magic number is 2 is clinch No. 3 with 3 games left)
Celtics: Nos. 3-5 (can clinch no worse than No. 4 with win vs. Pacers on Friday)
Pacers: Nos. 3-5 (can clinch no worse than No. 4 with win vs. Celtics on Friday and one other win or Celtics loss)
Playoff chase breakdown
Pistons: 39-39 with four games left (at Thunder, vs. Hornets, vs. Grizzlies, at Knicks). Detroit has the tiebreaker over the Magic and Heat. The Nets and Hornets have tiebreakers over Detroit. The Pistons’ magic number to clinch a spot is three.
Nets: 39-40 with three games left (at Bucks, at Pacers, vs. Heat). Brooklyn has the tiebreaker over the Pistons and Magic. The Hornets have tiebreaker over Brooklyn. The Heat lead the season series with the Nets, 2-1, with one game remaining. The Nets’ magic number to clinch a spot is three.
Magic: 39-40 with three games left (vs. Hawks, at Celtics, at Hornets). Orlando has the tiebreaker over the Heat. The Pistons and Nets have tiebreakers over Orlando. The Hornets lead the season series the with Magic, 2-1, with one game remaining. Orlando’s magic number to clinch a spot is three.
Heat: 38-40 with four games left (at Timberwolves, at Raptors, vs. Sixers, at Nets). Miami has control of no tiebreakers. The Heat’s magic number to clinch a spot is four.
Hornets: 36-42 with four games left (vs. Raptors, at Pistons, at Cavaliers, vs. Magic). Charlotte has tiebreakers over the Pistons, Nets, and Heat, and trail the season series over Magic 2-1 with one game remaining. The Hornets do not control their own destiny for a playoff spot and need at least two other teams to lose some games.
Most critical games
Hornets at Pistons, Sunday
Heat at Nets, Wednesday
Magic at Hornets, Wednesday
Western Conference
Teams that have clinched spots
Golden State Warriors
Denver Nuggets
Houston Rockets
Portland Trail Blazers
Utah Jazz
L.A. Clippers
Oklahoma City Thunder
San Antonio Spurs
Playoff spots remaining: 0
Seeds clinched: None.
Seed ranges
Warriors: Nos. 1-3 (no lower than No. 2 with one more win, clinch No. 1 with 2 more wins)
Nuggets: Nos. 1-5 (no lower than No. 3 with one more win)
Rockets: Nos. 1-5 (no lower than No. 4 with one more win)
Blazers: Nos. 2-5
Jazz: Nos. 2-7
Clippers: Nos. 5-8
Thunder: Nos. 5-8
Spurs: Nos. 6-8
Seed breakdown
Warriors: 54-24 with four games left. They have tiebreakers over Nuggets and Blazers, but lost the tiebreaker to the Rockets. Likely to be No. 1 seed.
Nuggets: 52-26 with four games left. Have two games against the Blazers remaining. Lost tiebreaker against Houston, and as such, Denver needs to win out to guarantee the No. 2 seed.
Rockets: 51-28 with three games left. Won tiebreakers against Golden State and Denver, but lost tiebreaker to Portland. Needs to win one game more than Denver to take No. 2. Needs to win out to guarantee keeping No. 3 over Portland.
Blazers: 50-28 with four games left. Needs help to climb above No. 4. Tiebreakers with Utah remain undecided and complicated, so Portland needs to stay a game ahead of the Jazz to guarantee the No. 4 spot and home court in the first round.
Jazz: 48-30 with four games left. Needs help to climb above No. 5, including needing to make up at least two games on Portland to claim No. 4. Utah has the tiebreaker over the Clippers and lost the tiebreaker against Oklahoma City. Really likely to be No. 5 unless truly weird stuff happens.
Clippers: 47-32 with three games left (including vs. Jazz on Wednesday). Needs to win out and watch Utah lose one other game to claim No. 5. Likely to be No. 6. Tiebreakers with Spurs and Thunder are complicated and undecided.
Thunder: 45-33 with four games left. Need to win one more game than the Spurs (who have three games left) to escape No. 8 and a likely first-round series with the Warriors, unless the Clippers fall apart.
Spurs: 45-34 with three games left. Need to win as many games as the Thunder (who have four games left) to escape No. 8 and a likely first-round series with the Warriors, unless the Clippers fall apart.
Most critical games
Most of them. All of them? But especially ...
Blazers at Nuggets, Friday
Clippers at Warriors, Sunday
Nuggets at Blazers, Sunday
Nuggets at Jazz, Monday
Rockets at Thunder, Monday
Jazz at Clippers, Wednesday
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