NBA Playoffs 2023: Known Schedule, Bracket Picture Before Final Games of Season

All eyes will be on the Western Conference on the NBA's final day of the regular season.

Five teams need to figure out their order from fifth to ninth. Those teams enter Sunday separated by two games in the standings.

The New Orleans Pelicans-Minnesota Timberwolves matchup is the only game on Sunday's slate featuring two of the West teams sitting in the fifth through ninth spots.

The Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors need to preserve their spots above the play-in line with road wins over the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers, while the Los Angeles Lakers will try to vault one of those two teams with a home win over the Utah Jazz.

The Eastern Conference playoff field is set from first to 10th. None of the playoff and play-in qualifiers should play their starters on Sunday in preparation for the postseason.

The play-in round begins on Tuesday with the No. 7 vs. No. 8 matchups in each conference, while the first round of the NBA Playoffs kicks off on Saturday.

Known NBA Playoffs Schedule

Play-In Round

Tuesday, April 11

No. 8 Atlanta at No. 7 Miami

West No. 8 at West No. 7

Wednesday, April 12

No. 10 Chicago at No. 9 Toronto

No. 10 Oklahoma City at West No. 9

Friday, April 14

Chicago/Toronto winner at Atlanta/Miami loser

West 9/10 winner at West 7/8 loser

Saturday, April 15

First Round Begins

Eastern Conference Bracket Picture

No. 6 Brooklyn vs. No. 3 Philadelphia

No. 5 New York vs. No. 4 Cleveland

No. 7 seed vs. No. 2 Boston

No. 8 seed vs. No. 1 Milwaukee

Two playoff matchups are confirmed in the East, while the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks await the two survivors from the play-in round.

Boston will take on the Atlanta Hawks-Miami Heat winner in the first round, while the Bucks will face whichever team emerges from Friday's play-in game.

Western Conference Standings

1. Denver (52-29)

2. Memphis (51-30)

3. Sacramento (48-33)

4. Phoenix (45-36)

5. Los Angeles Clippers (43-38)

6. Golden State (43-38)

Play-In Spots

7. Los Angeles Lakers (42-39)

8. New Orleans (42-39)

9. Minnesota (41-40)

10. Oklahoma City (39-42)

The top four seeds are set in the West, as is the Oklahoma City Thunder's fate as the road team in the No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game.

The rest of the positions will be determined by Sunday's games.

The easiest scenario to follow features wins by the Clippers, Warriors and Lakers, which would keep them all in their current positions.

In that scenario, New Orleans and Minnesota would be playing for the No. 8 seed and a trip to Los Angeles to face the Lakers on Tuesday. The loser of that game would host Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor tweeted out all of the scenarios provided by the NBA:

The Clippers might appear to be the most vulnerable of the five teams because they have a road game in Phoenix, but all of the Suns' top players have been ruled out for rest.

Kawhi Leonard and Co. should cruise to a victory in Phoenix, as should the Warriors on the road against a Portland Trail Blazers side that gave up on the season a few weeks ago.

Wins by the Clippers and Warriors will force the Lakers into the play-in round no matter what they do at home against the Jazz.

The lack of star power available for the Suns and Blazers does not play in favor of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Co.

Unless a massive upset happens in Phoenix, Portland or Los Angeles, the Pelicans-Wolves game will be the only one that matters on Sunday.

New Orleans comes into Sunday with an 8-2 mark in its last 10 games. Minnesota is 5-5 in the same span.

The Pelicans are only 15-25 on the road, but the Wolves are 21-19 at home. Minnesota owns the worst home record of the top 10 teams in the West.

Minnesota recently lost consecutive home games to the Lakers and Blazers, and it may be a tired team after traveling so much in the last month. The Wolves played nine of their last 13 games on the road and will be playing the second leg of a back-to-back on Sunday. The first leg was a road contest in San Antonio.

New Orleans is fresh after it finished off a 3-1 home stand with a Friday win over the New York Knicks.

The Pelicans-Wolves matchup could be decided by one or two scoring X-factors. Brandon Ingram, C.J. McCollum and Jonas Valančiūnas can have their production cancelled out by Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns.

That is where Trey Murphy III could be the difference-maker in the contest. Murphy is coming off two straight 30-point performances, and he has 10 straight games with 15 or more points.

Minnesota does not have an electric fourth scorer who could keep pace with Murphy, so it needs to contain him in order to keep the game close and in its favor.

The winning team in the two previous regular-season contests scored over 110 points, and it may take a similar offensive performance to pull off the win on Sunday. New Orleans holds the edge on offense because of Murphy's recent run.