The Hawks’ win over the Cavaliers set the 10 Eastern postseason teams in stone, but only served to muddy the seeding scenarios even more.
The “who” of the Eastern Conference playoff picture is now known.
The “where” is still completely up in the air with just 10 days remaining in the regular season.
- Play-In Picture: If the Play-In Tournament started today
Atlanta’s win over Cleveland on Thursday officially put the Washington Wizards and New York Knicks out of reach for the Play-In Tournament, leaving the top 10 teams guaranteed participants of the 2022 postseason. Yet none of the seedings are set due to intensely close races in various portions of the standings.
Milwaukee’s dramatic overtime victory over Brooklyn kept the Bucks (48-28) tied with Miami (49-28) in the loss column for first place. That victory, along with the Cavaliers’ loss to the Hawks, guaranteed Milwaukee a top-six seed. Boston (47-30) and Philadelphia (46-30) still have an outside shot at claiming the top spot in the East as well.
Chicago (45-32) and Toronto (44-32), meanwhile, are separated by just one win in the battle for fifth and sixth place, with both teams sporting a sizable cushion above the Play-In Tournament.
Catch up on all the action from a 5-game night in the NBA.
Following seventh-place Cleveland, there is now a three-way tie for eighth between Brooklyn, Charlotte and Atlanta, with the Nets holding the tiebreaker in that three-team scenario.
The benefit of finishing eighth, instead of ninth or 10th, is enormous in the Play-In Tournament. The eighth-place team receives two chances to earn the single win it needs to get one of the final two playoff seeds. The ninth and 10th-place teams face two-win, single-elimination paths to grab the eighth seed at best.
The 2022 Play-In Tournament begins April 12, after which the finalized 16-team 2022 NBA playoffs commence on April 16.
