2026 NBA Playoff Picture, Bracket Clinching Scenarios for Celtics, Hawks on Friday

Heading into the final weekend of the 2025-26 NBA regular season, there are six clinching scenarios at stake on Friday night.

All six scenarios involve Eastern Conference teams, with the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics being able to clinch division titles with a win or losses by other teams.

Here are the playoff scenarios on the line with a full 15-game schedule on Friday:

• Atlanta Hawks: Clinch top-six seed and Southeast Division title with a win OR losses by the Orlando Magic AND Charlotte Hornets
• Boston Celtics: Clinch Atlantic Division title with a win OR New York Knicks loss
• Charlotte Hornets: Locked into play-in tournament with a loss OR wins by the Atlanta Hawks AND Toronto Raptors
• Orlando Magic: Locked into play-in tournament with a loss OR wins by the Toronto Raptors AND Atlanta Hawks
• Philadelphia 76ers: Locked into play-in tournament with a loss OR a win by the Toronto Raptors
• Toronto Raptors: Clinch top-six seed with a win OR losses by the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers AND Charlotte Hornets

The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are locked into the top two seeds in the Western conference. The Denver Nuggets can secure the No. 3 spot with a win over the Thunder AND a loss by the Los Angeles Lakers against the Phoenix Suns.

The West's four play-in teams are already set, with only the eight and nine spots still to be determined between the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers. Those two teams play on Friday night at Moda Center in one of the key games on the schedule.

The two other key games on Friday's schedule are the Hawks hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers and Raptors playing the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

While the Hawks are playing for a guaranteed playoff spot, the Cavaliers are competing with the Knicks for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Cleveland (51-29) is currently one game behind New York (52-28) in the standings. The Knicks also own the head-to-head tiebreaker, so the Cavs would have to finish with a better record to move ahead of them in the standings.

The Knicks also have an outside shot at the No. 2 seed, but they would have to win out and the Boston Celtics would have to lose their final two games.

In the race between the Knicks and Cavs, the team that finishes fourth would avoid the Celtics until potentially the Eastern Conference Finals.

The tightest race in the East is the three-team battle for seeds five through seven. Atlanta, Toronto and Orlando are all separated by one game.

The Magic are at the biggest disadvantage because they will lose the head-to-head tiebreakers against both teams, so they need to win out and have either the Hawks or Raptors lose out to secure a top six seed.

If the Hawks beat Cleveland on Friday, it will mark their first division title since the 2020-21 season when they advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Raptors can secure their first playoff berth since the 2021-22 season with a win on Friday night.