MIAMI (AP) — Players in Miami’s locker room Sunday evening found themselves glued to a large screen displaying the final moments of the Boston versus Orlando matchup.
Their attention was well-placed, as the outcome would determine significant playoff positioning across the Eastern Conference.
The Eastern Conference postseason bracket has been finalized as much as possible at this stage. Miami will travel to Charlotte for their play-in contest on Tuesday, while Orlando makes the trip to Philadelphia for Wednesday’s winner-advances game.
The victor of the Orlando-Philadelphia matchup will face second-seeded Boston in the opening round, while the defeated team will meet the winner of Miami-Charlotte on Friday to determine who challenges top-seeded Detroit in an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Additional first-round pairings are now confirmed: third-seeded New York will battle sixth-seeded Atlanta, and fourth-seeded Cleveland faces fifth-seeded Toronto. Opening games for those series begin next weekend.
“Our group understands what wins and loses for us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And that’s the most important thing.”
Boston’s victory over the Magic sent Orlando down to the eighth position in the play-in tournament. The result also locked in Tuesday’s date for the Miami-Charlotte game, since Philadelphia’s arena cannot accommodate basketball on Monday or Tuesday due to scheduling conflicts with the NHL’s Flyers.
Western Conference playoff arrangements were expected to be determined later Sunday evening.
Phoenix will host either the Los Angeles Clippers or Portland on Tuesday for the seventh playoff seed and a first-round series against second-seeded San Antonio in the West. Golden State will visit either the Clippers or Portland on Wednesday in a must-win game to stay alive for a potential first-round meeting with Western Conference leader Oklahoma City.
Denver and the Los Angeles Lakers will occupy the third and fourth seeds in the West, though their exact order remains undetermined. The third seed will meet sixth-seeded Minnesota in the first round, while the fourth seed takes on fifth-seeded Houston.
This season established a new NBA record for total points scored, surpassing the previous mark of 282,127 points on Sunday night with approximately seven games remaining on the schedule.
However, the season will not set a record for points per game. The all-time mark of 118.8 points per team per game was established in 1961-62. This season’s average of 115.6 points per team entering Sunday ranks sixth in league history.
Denver’s Nikola Jokic participated in the Nuggets’ Sunday night game against San Antonio, bringing his season total to 65 games and qualifying him for NBA award consideration on ballots being distributed this week.
Last season, Jokic finished second in MVP voting behind Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This achievement made Jokic only the third player in NBA history to place in the top two of MVP voting for five straight seasons, joining Bill Russell and Larry Bird.
Jokic claimed MVP honors in 2021, 2023 and 2024, while finishing as runner-up in 2022 and last year.
Russell and Bird, both Boston Celtics legends, each earned first or second place in MVP balloting across six consecutive seasons.
