Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) goes to the basket against the Los Angeles Clippers center Brook Lopez (11) through the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
MIAMI — The play-in tournament field is about, and identical to that the postseason has arrived within the NBA.
First up: an elimination game in Charlotte. The ninth-place Hornets will tackle the Tenth-place Miami Heat on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. Eastern) in a win-or-go-home game to open the play-in tournament.
The remainder of the play-in schedule:
— West No. 7 Phoenix meets West No. 8 Portland on Tuesday (10 p.m. Eastern), with the winner moving on to face Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in Round 1.
READ: NBA: Miami Heat headed back to play-in for fourth consecutive season
THE BRACKET IS SET 🍿 pic.twitter.com/bqSnxeDnzv
— NBA (@NBA) April 13, 2026
— East No. 7 Philadelphia plays host to East No. 8 Orlando on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. Eastern), with the winner of that game set to fulfill the Boston Celtics in Round 1.
— The Los Angeles Clippers, No. 9 within the West, play host to No. 10 Golden State on Wednesday (10 p.m. Eastern) in an elimination game. The winner will play the Suns-Trail Blazers loser on Friday for the appropriate to fulfill No. 1 Oklahoma City in Round 1.
— Also Friday, the Hornets-Heat winner will visit the 76ers-Magic loser to determine which team advances to face No. 1 Detroit in Round 1.
“Our group understands what wins and loses for us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And that’s crucial thing.”
Remainder of Round 1 schedule
The highest two seeds in each conference — Detroit, Boston, Oklahoma City and San Antonio — will wait until either Tuesday or Friday to seek out out their Round 1 opponents.
Some teams already know. The three-vs.-6 and 4-vs.-5 Round 1 matchups are set.
READ: NBA: LeBron James scores 28, Lakers clinch homecourt in 1st round
Within the East, No. 3 Recent York will play No. 6 Atlanta, and No. 4 Cleveland takes on No. 5 Toronto. Within the West, No. 3 Denver will play No. 6 Minnesota — the third time in 4 years those teams have met within the postseason — while the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers will face No. 5 Houston.
How the regular-season finale went down
Contained in the Heat locker room on Sunday night, everybody’s eyes were on an enormous television set showing the tip of the Orlando-Boston game.
With good reason. It decided a complete lot within the East.
The Celtics beat the Magic, which dropped Orlando into the No. 8 spot for the play-in. It also ensured the Miami-Charlotte game can be played Tuesday, since Philadelphia cannot host basketball games Monday or Tuesday due to arena scheduling conflicts with the NHL’s Flyers.
“This one is completed,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said after the loss in Boston. “You’ve got to be certain that you focus your time and your attention and your energy all on the Philadelphia 76ers immediately.”
Portland beat Sacramento to earn the No. 8 spot within the West going into the play-in, and due to this fact may have two possibilities to win one game and earn a playoff berth. The Clippers beat Golden State of their finale, and now those teams will play again in Inglewood, California, on Wednesday in an elimination game.
READ: NBA: Warriors’ Steph Curry will take part in play-in if able, says Kerr
“Each team knows the opposite pretty much, just from playing against them rather a lot through the years,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Denver — which ended the regular season on a 12-game winning streak — topped San Antonio to lock up the No. 3 seed. The Lakers beat Utah, and that result means LeBron James might be taking over Kevin Durant of their first postseason meeting because the 2018 NBA Finals.
Points record falls
More points were scored this season than in every other in NBA history, with the previous record of 282,127 points getting passed Sunday evening — with about seven games left to be played on the schedule.
The ultimate total for the season: 284,395 points.
It wasn’t a record for points per game; that mark of 118.8 points per team, per game, has stood since 1961-62. This season’s pace of 115.6 points per team was sixth-best in NBA history.
Jokic plays, might be award eligible
Denver’s Nikola Jokic appeared within the Nuggets’ game against San Antonio on Sunday night, which pushed his total to 65 games for the season — and due to this fact got him eligibility on the NBA’s award ballots that might be sent out later this week.
Jokic was second in last 12 months’s MVP balloting behind only Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, That made Jokic just the third player in NBA history with a top-two finish in five or more consecutive seasons, joining Bill Russell and Larry Bird.
Jokic won MVP in 2021, 2023 and 2024, plus was second in 2022 and again last 12 months.
Russell and Bird, a pair of Boston Celtics greats, each were first or second within the balloting in six consecutive seasons.
Stat notes
The league’s statistical champions have been known for a while, but now they’re officially official.
The Lakers’ Luka Doncic (33.5 points per game) won the scoring title, while Jokic won each the rebounding (12.9 per game) and assist (10.7 per game) titles to finish one other season by which he averaged a triple-double.
Other stat items of note:
— The league finished with 96 games decided by 30 points or more, 16 greater than the previous record (set last season).
— The common margin of victory this season was 13.3 points, one other record (previous was 12.7, set last season).
— This one is wild. Last season within the NBA, teams listed as favorites by BetMGM Sportsbook went 853-377. This season, they went … 853-377.