Everything You Need to Know Before Final Night of 2016-17 NBA Season
For 28 NBA teams, there's only one step left on the 2016-17 regular-season marathon.
While the Phoenix Suns and Charlotte Hornets get an early start on their summer vacations, the rest of the Association has one night left to fight for playoff berths and seeds, draft-lottery pingpong balls or good old-fashioned bragging rights.
Don't let the absence of Dallas Mavericks great Tony Romo fool you—Wednesday's 14-game slate is power-packed with intrigue. Six postseason seeds could change hands amid the action, including the first and second spots in the Eastern Conference.
So before settling down with a tub of popcorn and your chilled beverage of choice, utilize this handy guide to know what's at stake as the curtains close on the 2016-17 campaign.
The Final Cut
All but two seats at the postseason table have been claimed. Three teams remain in the running for the Eastern Conference's seventh and eighth seeds: the Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat.
The playoff path for the first two is simple—win and they're in. The Pacers host an Atlanta Hawks team that locked up the fifth spot with Tuesday's 103-76 win over the Kemba Walker-less Charlotte Hornets. The Bulls welcome the surprisingly competent Brooklyn Nets (11-12 since March 1) to the Windy City, but the Nets are without six players due to injury and rest:
"If we don't win the game, then we don't deserve to be in," Bulls guard Dwyane Wade said, per ESPN.com's Nick Friedell. "It's as simple as that."
Chicago would have punched its playoff ticket already if not for Saturday's stunning 107-106 loss in Brooklyn. But the Nets got 37 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists, six steals and a block that night from players who won't be available in this contest.
None of that is good news for the Heat, who need both a win over the Washington Wizards and help to punctuate their miraculous second-half turnaround (29-11 since their 11-30 start) with a playoff berth. It'll take a Miami win and a loss by either Indy or Chicago (or both) to make that happen.
"This is like our Game 7," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters at Tuesday's practice. "I know it doesn't control everything. But it's great to go through these experiences and to have meaning and value in the very last game."
All three teams could finish in either the seventh or eighth seeds or miss the big dance entirely. Heat Hoops' Albert Nahmad laid out all of the scenarios still on the table:
In other words, fasten your seat belts.
Race For East's Top Spot
The Boston Celtics received an unlikely assist Monday in their quest to claim the East's No. 1 seed—from the same squad they're ostensibly racing against.
The Cleveland Cavaliers prioritized rest over playoff seeding by sitting LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in Monday's overtime road loss to the Heat.
"The most important thing for us is to give those guys a rest," Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue explained. "They have carried the load all season with injuries and guys being in and out, and it's just the right thing to do.
"For us going forward, if we want to make a long run deep into the playoffs, those guys being healthy is the most important thing."
Doubling down on that commitment, Cleveland general manager David Griffin confirmed James won't go in Wednesday's regular-season finale against the Toronto Raptors, per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin. The Cavs are 0-7 without the four-time MVP this season.
Irving, however, could see action.
Despite being locked into the East's No. 3 seed, the Raptors plan to play everyone, head coach Dwane Casey told reporters Tuesday. Toronto is still looking to regain its rhythm with All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry, who only has three games under his belt since a seven-week absence following right wrist surgery.
The Celtics will host the Milwaukee Bucks, who can't budge from the No. 6 spot. As such, Milwaukee plans to sit All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Tony Snell and Matthew Dellavedova, per 98.5 The Sports Hub's Brian Robb.
Boston, meanwhile, expects to have all hands on deck.
"If they need it (the Celtics will rest somebody)," head coach Brad Stevens said, per MassLive.com's Jay King. "But we feel like, from the standpoint of reps and freshness and everything else, we're in pretty good shape."
The Celtics, who secured their first Atlantic Division title since 2011-12, haven't earned the East's top seed since Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen steered them to the 2008 title. They can acquire it with either a win or a Cavs loss.
Los Angeles or Salt Lake City?
All four first-round matchups are set out West. But home-court advantage in the 4-5 tussle between the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz remains up for grabs.
Thanks to a six-game winning streak and a 3-1 regular-season series edge over the Jazz, the Clippers control their own destiny. All that stands between them and opening the first round at Staples Center is a home date with the perennially lottery-bound Sacramento Kings.
"We're coming just to play," Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said, per Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. "Let's just take care of ourselves. ... If we take care of business, it doesn't matter what Utah does."
The Jazz close out their campaign with the San Antonio Spurs at home. Even though San Antonio has both its seed (second) and first-round opponent (Memphis Grizzlies) determined, the Alamo City's finest are all bound for Salt Lake.
"Nobody's going to rest," Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said, per ESPN.com's Michael C. Wright. "Everybody's going to play. We already rested everybody, and we have days in between now."
That said, Utah already has one victory over San Antonio this season, part of the Jazz's first 50-win effort since 2009-10. And Utah remains in this hunt because of Monday's 105-99 road win over the Golden State Warriors, in which the Jazz played without All-Star Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Rodney Hood and Raul Neto.
The full-strength Spurs have more than enough to put one more notch in the win column. The Clippers should handle the Kings, rendering the Utah-San Antonio outcome moot.
But don't count out the Jazz—who are tied for the NBA's fourth-best net efficiency rating—just yet.
Last Call for Tankers
With the 2017 draft class seemingly packed to the brim with future stars, starters and rotation regulars, it's little surprise that several teams are aiming to improve their lottery odds.
The best have already gone to the Celtics, by way of the 61-loss Nets and their franchise-crippling attempt to construct a contender overnight. The Suns ensured themselves the second-best odds with Tuesday's loss in Sacramento, putting the Los Angeles Lakers third from the bottom and in jeopardy of losing two first-rounders over the next three drafts.
"The Lakers now have better than a 50 percent chance of losing their pick, and thus also losing their 2019 first-round draft pick in the continued fallout from the Dwight Howard trade," noted ESPN.com's Jovan Buha.
The Sixers and Orlando Magic enter Wednesday in a dead heat for the league's fourth-worst record at 28-53. Philly finishes at Madison Square Garden against a New York Knicks team expected to sit leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, per ESPN.com's Ian Begley. Orlando closes with the dead-in-the-water Detroit Pistons, who already shut down $80 million point guard Reggie Jackson.
Expect peak tanking shenanigans in both contests.
If the Knicks win and the Minnesota Timberwolves drop a road game to the Houston Rockets, they'll wind up tied for the sixth-worst record at 31-51. The Kings and Mavs are knotted right behind at 32-49, with Sacramento visiting the Clippers and Dallas ending on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Should Dallas win and the New Orleans Pelicans lose a road tilt with the Portland Trail Blazers, the pair would tie for the ninth-worst record. But the Pelicans already sent their pick—with top-three protection—to the Kings in the February trade for DeMarcus Cousins.
And while the Heat and Bulls clearly aren't playing for lottery position, they could match the Denver Nuggets for the 13th-worst record with a loss and a Denver road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In the upside-down world of tanking, there will be plenty to win by losing on the schedule's final night.
Statistics accurate through Tuesday and courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.
