The NBA closed the regular season this Sunday and the life or death confrontations begin. The Boston Celtics are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs.
In the West, a failure by the Denver Nuggets in the penultimate game allowed the Oklahoma City Thunder to finish first. The Lakers and the Warriors have so far avoided a direct confrontation in the Western Conference playoff, so both could end up entering the postseason. The Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the revelations of the league, face the Phoenix Suns, sixth in the Conference, with home field advantage. For their part, the Los Angeles Clippers (4th) will have the Dallas Mavericks (5th) as rivals. The New York Knicks managed to close the season as the second best team in the East in overtime of their game against the Milwaukee Bucks, who fell on a final day in which they reserved their star, Giannis Antokounmpo, for the game. The Philadelphia 76ers will host the winner of the game between the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday to see who is the seventh seed.