The NBA stretch run has arrived.
Going into Monday, there are only 111 games left in the season — or put another way, 91% of the regular season has already been played. The postseason (not playoff) teams are set: Milwaukee, Chicago, Washington, Brooklyn and Indiana have all been eliminated from the Eastern Conference race while Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, Utah and Sacramento are out of the Western Conference race.
That means, for 20 other teams, the next
two weeks are basically all about playoff positioning.
Detroit, Boston, Oklahoma City and San Antonio have playoff spots secured (and it would seem mathematically certain that New York, Cleveland, the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver will be clinching before too long, with Houston and Minnesota not far behind).
Portland and Golden State are locked into the play-in tournament.
— Philadelphia at Miami: Winner gets the head-to-head tiebreaker. It could also be former Heat guard Kyle Lowry's final appearance in Miami as a player. Heat coming off a frustrating loss in Indiana on Sunday.
— Boston at Atlanta: Rematch of a seven-point Celtics win on Friday. Boston is already at 50 wins, Hawks have won 12 in a row at home and 15 of 17 overall.
— Phoenix at Memphis: Suns face uphill climb to escape play-in, can’t lose here.
— Chicago at San Antonio: Spurs have gone 24-2 since Feb. 1, chasing No. 1 overall seed.
— Minnesota at Dallas: Wolves looking for 4-0 sweep of season series; won first three meetings by double digits.
— Cleveland at Utah: Jazz won first meeting; they’ve only swept Indiana this season.
— Detroit at Oklahoma City: A matchup of potential No. 1 seeds. Pistons could be first team to sweep Thunder in last two seasons.
— Washington at L.A. Lakers: Lakers’ Luka Doncic (16 technical foul limit) suspended for this one.
— Phoenix at Orlando: A back-to-back for Suns, start of a tough home back-to-back for Magic.
— Charlotte at Brooklyn: One of only two games left for Hornets against eliminated teams.
— Dallas at Milwaukee: Matchup of teams officially playing out the string.
— Toronto at Detroit: After this, the Pistons have only two home games left in regular season.
— New York at Houston: Rockets blew 18-point fourth-quarter lead versus Knicks on Feb. 21.
— Cleveland at L.A. Lakers: LeBron James is 35-19 against his former teams (19-6 vs. Cavs, 16-13 vs. Heat, including playoffs).
— Portland at L.A. Clippers: Major play-in seeding implications for teams looking to avoid 9 vs. 10 game.
Monday's games on Peacock and NBC Sports Network: Philadelphia-Miami and Detroit-Oklahoma City. (Chicago-San Antonio is a Peacock game as well.)
Tuesday's games on NBC and Peacock: New York-Houston and Portland-L.A. Clippers.
Oklahoma City (+140) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by San Antonio (+550), Boston (+600), Cleveland (+900), Denver (+1100) and New York (+1500). Detroit, on its way to the No. 1 seed in the East, is +2500.
— April 10: All 30 teams play their 81st games of the season.
— April 12: All 30 teams play their regular season finales.
— April 14, 15 and 17: NBA play-in tournament dates.
— April 18 and 19: NBA playoff series openers.
— May 2, 3 or 4: Conference semifinals begin.
— May 10: NBA draft lottery.
— May 10-17: NBA draft combine.
— May 17 or 19: Eastern Conference finals begin on ESPN and ABC.
— May 18 or 20: Western Conference finals begin on NBC and Peacock.
— June 3: Game 1, NBA Finals on ABC. (Other finals dates: June 5, June 8, June 10, June 13, June 16 and June 19).
After three such games on Sunday, there have been 81 games decided by at least 30 points this season. The record was 80, set last season.
Toronto beat Orlando 139-87 on Sunday. The 52-point win was the second-biggest victory in Raptors history, the biggest loss in Magic history — and included a 31-0 run that took just 7 1/2 minutes and saw Orlando go 0-for-8 with 11 turnovers.
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