NBA Playoff Picture 2022: Bracket, Early Odds and Predictions

The 2021-22 NBA regular season is complete, and it's time for the playoffs to begin. Well, almost. This week, the play-in tournament will take place, with eight teams battling for the final four spots in the first round, which gets underway Saturday.

In both the Eastern and Western Conferences, the teams that finished seventh and eighth in the standings will face off, with the winners getting the No. 7 seeds. The losers must play the winners of the games between the ninth- and 10th-place teams. And the winners of those final contests will get the No. 8 berths.

The Phoenix Suns ran away with the best record in the NBA this season, as they went 64-18. The Memphis Grizzlies went 56-26, the second-best mark in the league, to secure the No. 2 seed in the West.

In the East, the Miami Heat will be the No. 1 seed after going 53-29. They edged the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers, all of whom went 51-31 and are the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds, respectively.

Here's everything else you need to know heading into the NBA postseason.

NBA Playoff Bracket

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Eastern Conference

First Round

No. 1 Miami Heat vs. No. 8 seed

No. 2 Boston Celtics vs. No. 7 seed

No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 6 Chicago Bulls

No. 4 Philadelphia 76ers vs. No. 5 Toronto Raptors

Play-In Tournament

No. 7 Brooklyn Nets vs. No. 8 Cleveland Cavaliers

No. 9 Atlanta Hawks vs. No. 10 Charlotte Hornets

Western Conference

First Round

No. 1 Phoenix Suns vs. No. 8 seed

No. 2 Memphis Grizzlies vs. No. 7 seed

No. 3 Golden State Warriors vs. No. 6 Denver Nuggets

No. 4 Dallas Mavericks vs. No. 5 Utah Jazz

Play-In Tournament

No. 7 Minnesota Timberwolves vs. No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers

No. 9 New Orleans Pelicans vs. No. 10 San Antonio Spurs

Odds to Win NBA Title

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Phoenix Suns: +270 (bet $100 to win $270)

Milwaukee Bucks: +500

Brooklyn Nets: +650

Golden State Warriors: +900

Miami Heat: +950

Boston Celtics: +1100

Philadelphia 76ers: +1300

Memphis Grizzlies: +1400

Dallas Mavericks: +2300

Denver Nuggets: +2300

Utah Jazz: +2700

Los Angeles Clippers: +3500

Minnesota Timberwolves: +6500

Toronto Raptors: +6500

Chicago Bulls: +10000

Cleveland Cavaliers: +13000

Atlanta Hawks: +16000

Charlotte Hornets: +37000

New Orleans Pelicans: +37000

San Antonio Spurs: +49000

Via FanDuel Sportsbook

Play-In Tournament Predictions

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

In the old postseason format, the top eight teams from each conference made it directly to the first round. The new format, featuring the play-in tournament, makes things more difficult for the Nos. 7 and 8 teams in both the East and West, while giving a chance to the Nos. 9 and 10 teams.

This year, the four Eastern Conference teams in the play-in tourney—the Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets—were all separated by only one game in the standings. The Nets and Cavs each went 44-38, while the Hawks and Hornets were 43-39.

Things weren't as tight in the West. The Timberwolves (46-36) and Clippers (42-40) were well ahead of the Pelicans (36-46) and Spurs (34-48). Minnesota had the same record as Chicago, which avoided the play-in tournament by finishing in sixth in the East.

While it's possible the teams that finished ninth and 10th in the standings could advance to the first round, don't count on it.

Let's start with the Western Conference, considering it should be easy to predict with the six-game gap between the Clippers and Pelicans in the standings. Los Angeles got healthy down the stretch, with both Paul George and Norman Powell in its rotation, and that could help it peak at the right time.

Because of that, the Clippers are capable of beating the Timberwolves, and that's what they'll do. But don't worry about Minnesota missing out on reaching the opening round. It will beat either New Orleans or San Antonio, whichever team makes it to the final game of the play-in tourney.

As for the Eastern Conference, don't let the similar records fool you. The Nets and Cavaliers are the clear better teams over the Hawks and Hornets, and that's going to be obvious with how the play-in tournament unfolds.

Brooklyn is in this position largely because it didn't have much continuity during the regular season. Kevin Durant was limited to 54 games because of a knee injury, while Kyrie Irving appeared in only 28 games as he couldn't play in most of the Nets' home matchups because of New York City's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

However, Durant is now healthy and Irving can play in home games. And even if Brooklyn doesn't add Ben Simmons (herniated disk in back) to the mix, it's still capable of making a deep playoff run because of its star duo.

Although the Nets will beat the Cavaliers, there's still a good chance Cleveland will advance to the first round. It will likely have to face Atlanta in the final game of the play-in tournament, but Darius Garland will keep his big season going by finding a way to power the Cavs to victory.

And with that, the Clippers, Timberwolves, Nets and Cavaliers will all avoid upsets and secure their spots in the first round, where each will have to take on either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a difficult series. 

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