The Dallas Mavericks became the 20th and final team to secure a berth in the 2025 NBA postseason; the Mavericks grabbed the final Western Conference play-in spot on Wednesday night when the Phoenix Suns were eliminated by losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On April 16, it’ll be Dallas vs. Sacramento — the Kings currently have the inside track to hosting that game — in the No. 9 vs. No. 10 West play-in elimination matchup.
The Mavericks got into the postseason on an emotional night, one where they played host to Luka Doncic as an opponent. Doncic scored 45 points, the Los Angeles Lakers won the game and are now assured of a playoff spot. The Lakers are currently No. 3 in the West, LeBron James is going to the playoffs for the 18th time in his career.
Also secured: the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference, that going to the Orlando Magic. They beat the Boston Celtics to clinch the Southeast Division title and will play host to somebody — probably Atlanta or Chicago — in the 7-vs.-8 East play-in game on Tuesday night.
The West is a mess
Golden State fell back into the play-in tournament range Wednesday night when Harrison Barnes hit a 3-pointer to give San Antonio a 114-111 win over the Warriors.
The current standings, entering Thursday, in the West for spots 4 through 8: Denver (which got its first win for interim coach David Adelman) is fourth at 48-32, the Los Angeles Clippers (48-32) are fifth, Memphis (47-32) is sixth, Golden State (47-33) is seventh and Minnesota (46-33) is eighth.
Any of those five teams could still finish in any of those five spots. The Clippers, Nuggets and Grizzlies could even move to No. 3, but a lot of things have to happen for any of those clubs to get there.
Thursday’s games
New York at Detroit: The Knicks are looking to sew up the No. 3 seed in the East. The Pistons are currently No. 6, so this could easily be a first-round matchup.
Cleveland at Indiana: Cavs have No. 1 in the East clinched, Pacers on the verge of clinching No. 4 in the East.
Atlanta at Brooklyn: Massive game for the Hawks, who are just a half-game ahead of No. 9 Chicago in the East.
New Orleans at Milwaukee: Bucks in control of destiny for No. 5 spot in the East.
Minnesota at Memphis: Enormous play-in implications, and both teams probably will take a must-win view of the matchup.
National TV schedule
It's a TNT doubleheader on Thursday, with Cleveland at Indiana and Minnesota at Memphis. 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. 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. Detroit's Malik Beasley and Minnesota's Anthony Edwards each have 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.
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 (the Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo would need to score 182 points against the Pelicans on Thursday to pass him going into the weekend, which seems unlikely).
Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis will win the rebounding title and Atlanta's Trae Young will win the assist title.
Stat of the day
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.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP