Only 45 regular-season games remain and 16 of the 20 postseason seeds are still to be decided. Cleveland is No. 1 in the Eastern Conference and Boston is No. 2 in the East. Oklahoma City will be No. 1 in the Western Conference, with Houston No. 2.
Everything else is still at least somewhat up for grabs.
Entering Wednesday, New York is No. 3 in the East, followed by No. 4 Indiana, No. 5 Milwaukee and No. 6 Detroit. They're all in the playoffs. The play-in field in the East right now (and it will be these four teams, in some order): No. 7 Orlando, No. 8 Atlanta, No. 9 Chicago and No. 10 Miami.
In the West, it's the Lakers at No. 3 now, the Clippers at No. 4, Denver — with a new coach after Malone's firing — at No. 5 and Golden State at No. 6. But none of those teams have clinched a playoff berth yet, meaning all could fall into the play-in. Memphis is No. 7, Minnesota No. 8, Sacramento (certain to be in the play-in) is No. 9 and Dallas is No. 10. The Mavs need one more win or one more Phoenix loss to clinch a play-in berth and eliminate the Suns.
Wednesday's games
Boston at Orlando: Celtics can tie Golden State (34-7 in 2015-16) for the best road record in NBA history. Magic can strengthen their grip on the No. 7 spot in the East.
L.A. Lakers at Dallas: There’s playoff positioning at stake, but really, this one is all about Doncic returning to Dallas for the first time since getting traded.
Miami at Chicago: Winner will (at least temporarily) have the No. 9 spot in the East and the inside track to at least one home play-in game.
San Antonio at Golden State: Warriors can’t afford to slip up now in the quest to escape the play-in tournament, not with only two games left after this.
Oklahoma City at Phoenix: It’s must-win time for the Suns, who need a whole lot of help if they’re going to the play-in tournament.
Denver at Sacramento: David Adelman’s debut for the Nuggets, who will try to snap a four-game slide. The Kings can move closer to securing No. 9 and get back to .500.
Houston at L.A. Clippers: Rockets are the No. 2 seed. Clippers just got to No. 4 for now and could have Kawhi Leonard back in the lineup for this one.
Philadelphia at Washington, Charlotte at Toronto, Portland at Utah: No playoff implications.
National TV schedule
There's an ESPN doubleheader on Wednesday — Lakers-Mavericks for Doncic's return to Dallas, followed by Denver-Sacramento for Adelman's debut. It's a TNT doubleheader on Thursday, with Cleveland at Indiana and Minnesota at Memphis.
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200) and Cleveland (+500), then the Lakers (+1000), Golden State (+1200) and Denver (+1600). Nobody else has odds shorter than 35-1.
Key dates
April 11 — All 30 NBA teams play.
April 12 — No games.
April 13 — All 30 NBA teams play, end of regular season.
April 15 — The No. 7 and No. 8 finishers in both conferences play to start the play-in tournament. 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. 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 could have three players make 300 3-pointers in a season. Detroit's Malik Beasley and Minnesota's Anthony Edwards each have 305 and Golden State’s Stephen Curry has 297. Edwards and Beasley are the fourth and fifth players with 300 3s in a season in NBA history. Curry has five seasons of 300 3s or more, James Harden has one and Klay Thompson has 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.
Stat of the day
The Clippers, Denver, Golden State and Memphis are all 47-32. It's the first time since 1978-79 that four teams from the same conference have the same record through 79 games.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP