Among them: 15 of the 20 postseason seeds (Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Boston, Houston and Orlando are locked into their spots), along with three of the four initial play-in tournament matchups.
Of the 15 games on Friday's schedule, 12 will have at least some level of postseason implications. And it's possible that as many as 12 of the 15 games on Sunday's schedule will affect the final standings as well.
What we know so far
—Houston and Boston will find out their first-round opponents on Tuesday.
—Oklahoma City and Cleveland will find out their first-round opponents on April 18 and start their series on April 20.
—Orlando will play host to a play-in game on Tuesday.
—Sacramento will play Dallas in a play-in elimination game on Wednesday.
—The Los Angeles Lakers, New York, Indiana, Milwaukee, Detroit, Oklahoma City, Houston, Cleveland and Boston know they are in the playoffs.
—Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Sacramento and Dallas are play-in bound.
—Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State, Memphis and Minnesota are vying for three playoff spots in the West. The two teams that don't get those guaranteed spots are headed to the play-in tournament.
—Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans, Utah, Toronto, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Washington are eliminated and will see their seasons end Sunday.
Seeding update
This is who can still finish where in the NBA seeding chase going into the postseason:
—East No. 1: Cleveland
—East No. 2: Boston
—East No. 3: New York (likely) or Indiana
—East No. 4: Indiana (likely) or New York
—East No. 5: Milwaukee (likely) or Detroit
—East No. 6: Detroit (likely) or Milwaukee
—East No. 7: Orlando
—East No. 8: Atlanta (likely), Chicago or Miami
—East No. 9: Chicago (likely), Atlanta or Miami
—East No. 10: Miami (likely), Chicago or Atlanta
—West No. 1: Oklahoma City
—West No. 2: Houston
—West No. 3: L.A. Lakers (likely), the L.A. Clippers or Denver
—West No. 4-8: Good luck. For now, the order is the L.A. Clippers, Denver, Golden State in playoff spots, with Memphis and Minnesota going to the 7 vs. 8 play-in game. All those seeds can change on Friday.
—West No. 9: Sacramento (likely) or Dallas
—West No. 10: Dallas (likely) or Sacramento
Friday's games
Milwaukee at Detroit: Bucks can clinch No. 5 in the East.
Orlando at Indiana: Both teams resting many — many — of their rotation players. Pacers can't fall below No. 4 in the East. Magic locked into No. 7 in the East for play-in.
Atlanta at Philadelphia: Hawks looking to seal up No. 8 in the East and get two chances at playoffs if necessary.
Cleveland at New York: Knicks can clinch No. 3 in the East.
Washington at Chicago: Bulls can clinch no worse than home-court for 9-10 East play-in game.
Miami at New Orleans: Heat need two wins and help to escape East’s No. 10 spot.
Toronto at Dallas: Mavericks need two wins and help to escape the West’s No. 10 spot.
Brooklyn at Minnesota: Wolves need win to escape play-in range.
Memphis at Denver: Grizzlies trying to avoid play-in, Nuggets trying to clinch home-court for Round 1.
Golden State at Portland: Warriors know a 2-0 finish might be required to clinch playoff berth.
L.A. Clippers at Sacramento: Clippers fighting for home-court, Kings fighting to host 9-10 play-in game.
Houston at L.A. Lakers: LeBron James and the Lakers could have the No. 3 seed wrapped when everything ends Friday.
Charlotte at Boston, Oklahoma City at Utah, San Antonio at Phoenix: No playoff implications.
National TV schedule
Friday has Milwaukee-Detroit and Houston-L.A. Lakers on NBA TV, and Sunday has the Milwaukee-Detroit and L.A. Clippers-Golden State games on ESPN.
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+220) and Cleveland (+550), then Golden State and the Lakers (both +1200) and Denver (+2200). Nobody else has odds shorter than 30-1.
Key dates
Friday — All 30 NBA teams play.
Saturday — No games.
Sunday — All 30 NBA teams play, end of regular season. All games start at either 1 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
April 15 — The No. 7 and No. 8 finishers in both conferences play to start the play-in tournament. One of those games will be at Orlando. Winners are the No. 7 seed for the playoffs; losers will host play-in elimination games on April 18.
April 16 — The No. 9 and No. 10 finishers in both conferences play; one of those games will be Sacramento vs. Dallas. Winners move on to April 18; losers are finished for the season.
April 18 — The April 15 game losers play host to the April 16 game winners. Winners are the No. 8 seed for the playoffs; losers are finished for the season.
April 19 — NBA playoffs begin.
Numbers watch
—The NBA record for total 3-pointers made in a season fell on Sunday. Boston also has broken the NBA's single-season records for 3-pointers made and attempted by a team.
—For the first time, the NBA has three players with 300 3-pointers in a season. Minnesota's Anthony Edwards has 312, Detroit's Malik Beasley has 305 and Golden State’s Stephen Curry has 302. There have been 10 instances of a player making 300 3s in a season. Curry has six. Edwards, Beasley, James Harden and Klay Thompson each have one.
—There have been four instances of teammates each having 250 3-pointers in a season: Curry and Thompson did it four times when they were the Warriors' “Splash Brothers.” Boston could have three players reach that number this season: Derrick White is already there with 262, Jayson Tatum has 247 and Payton Pritchard has 246.
—The Thunder are on the brink of setting an NBA record for point differential. They’re winning by an average of 12.6 points per game; the record is 12.3 by the 1971-72 Lakers. Oklahoma City has outscored teams by 993 points so far; three teams — the 1971-72 Lakers (1,007), the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (1,005) and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (1,004) are the only teams to enjoy a 1,000-point differential over a full season.
—Denver’s Nikola Jokic needs only four more assists (assuming he’s going to play in both of the Nuggets’ final two games) to wrap up averaging a triple-double for the season. He’s at 29.8 points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game with two contests remaining. If he plays in both games, he needs a total of 73 points to make it a 30-point triple-double for the season.
Stat leader races
Not much of a race for the scoring, rebound and assist titles. They're locked up.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder will be the scoring champion, Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis will win the rebounding title for the third straight year — he'll be the seventh player in NBA history to do that — and Atlanta's Trae Young will win the assist title.
Stat of the day
If road teams go 17-13 in the season's final 30 games, this season will tie for the best winning percentage for away teams in NBA history. The current record of a leaguewide .457 road winning percentage was set last season.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP