NBA: Who Clinched Last Night & Playoff Picture For Tonight

Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

The 2011-2012 NBA season is coming to a close (wahhhhh), but the playoffs are around the corner (yayyyy).  Check out what happened around the league last night if you missed the action…

* Jazz clinch Western Conference’s final playoff berth with 100-88 win over Suns

* Lakers (41-24) clinch Pacific Division title with Clippers (40-25) loss to Hawks

* Bulls (48-16) clinch East’s top seed with Heat (46-19) loss to Celtics

* Hawks pull past Clippers 109-102, inch closer to early home-court advantage

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ACCORDING TO EYEONBASKETBALL:

Playoff race in both conferences, not just who is how many games out of what seed, but what the seedings and matchups mean for each team based on what we’ve seen. For our complete playoff standings, click here.
Current matchups:

Chicago (1) vs. Philadelphia (8)
Miami (2) vs. New York (7)
Indiana (3) vs. Orlando (6)
Boston (4) vs. Atlanta (5)

San Antonio (1) vs. Utah (8)
Oklahoma City (2) vs. Dallas (7)
Los Angeles Lakers (3) vs. Denver (6)
Los Angeles Clippers (4) vs. Memphis (5)

*Bold indicates locked seeding/series.

Eastern Conference

East No.1 and No.2 seeds: Miami’s loss to Boston Tuesday cements the No. 1 seed for the Chicago Bulls. Their opponent has yet to be determined but once again Chicago will enjoy homecourt advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.

East No. 2 seed: Miami has clinched over the Pacers previously, and sitting their starters Tuesday was a surrender. They’re fine with playing New York or Philadelphia, and prioritized the rest for a banged up core of stars. The Knicksmay not go quietly into that night, however. The best case scenario for the Heat has the Knicks slipping by Orlando in the midst of their breakdown and the Heat getting to play the Magic without Dwight Howard.

East No.3 seed: The Pacers have locked the third seed in the East and await finding out who their opponent is. Orlando, New York, Philadelphia, the Pacers are likely fine with any of the above. They lost the season series to Orlando and New York. Orlando obviously is a different matter without Dwight Howard. If the Knicks move up to No.6, things could get interesting.

East No.4 and No.5 seed: Boston-Atlanta is locked. That’s our first confirmed matchup for the 2012 playoffs. An Atlanta win Thursday clinches homecourt advantage for a No.5 seed over a No.4 and confuses everyone. But it’s likely. Atlanta faces Dallas at home Thursday.

Boston’s starters, held out Tuesday, will get a full week’s rest before the playoffs begin.

East No.6 and No.7 seeds: The Knicks have a very thin shot at the sixth seed. If the Magic go 0-2 and the Knicks go 2-0, the Knicks take the six with tiebreaker, dropping Orlando into a matchup with the second seed and an even faster exit in the first round. Orlando plays Charlotte Wednesday, so you can expect that dream to die.

The Magic have tiebreaker over the Sixers, so even if they went 0-2 and the Knicks and Sixers finished out 2-0, the Magic would hold onto the seven. I’m sure they’re giddy.

The Knicks hold tiebreaker over Philadelphia so their magic number for the seven is two. The Sixers need to go 3-0 if the Knicks go 1-1. The Sixers beat the Nets Monday night, so they need to go 2-0 and have the Knicks either go 1-1 or 0-2 to move up. Coach Doug Collins said he’s resting starters the other two games. Indications are that they plan to target Chicago and not Miami, which makes sense. The Sixers lost the season series but wound up with a positive efficiency differential against the Bulls (.5). If the Knicks go 0-2, the Sixers can drop one and still win the seven. Philadelphia faces two lottery teams to finish the season.

East No.8 seed: The Sixers have clinched a playoff spot.

Western Conference

West No.1 seed: The race for the No.1 seed in the West is over, and it belongs to the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs’ win over Portland gives the Spurs the No.1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. A masterful rush to end the season for San Antonio, and a disappointing end for the Thunder.

West No.2 seed: The Thunder are locked into the West No.2 after the Spurs clinched.

With the bottom of the West looking more and more like the Mavericks and then the Jazz, getting the No.2 might not be that bad. The Mavs are an inconsistent mess and are missing most of the reasons they toppled the Thunder last year, while the Jazz are dynamic and hungry. You know, the kind of team that the Spurs have nightmares about after last year. The Grizzlies were better than this Jazz team, but it’s still not a bad land to get the Mavs or Nuggets.

West No.3, No.4, and No.5 seeds: The Clippers’ loss to Atlanta clinches the Pacific Division title and the third seed for the Los Angeles Lakers. Big brother stll rules the roost. The Lakers await discovery of who they will face.

The Grizzlies can only climb to the No.4 now. Memphis has to win out and the Clippers have to go 0-2 for Memphis to snag homecourt in the first-round. Memphis beat the Cavs Monday night to get halfway there on their end. The Clippers lost to Atlanta so they Clippers have done their part. The Clippers hold the tiebreaker, so only a Clippers loss to New York on Wednesday and a Grizzlies win Thursday vs. Orlando gives the Grizzlies homecourt in the first-round. Grizzlies-Clippers is locked either way.

West No.6 and No.7 seeds: The Nuggets’ magic number is two. If they lose to OKC on Wednesday, they’ll need a Mavericks’ loss to Atlanta and a Nuggets win over Minnesota Thursday to win the seventh. Denver needs to avoid Oklahoma City as much as possible. It’s a nightmare set of matchups for them, as evidenced by last year’s first-round series.

There’s a remote possiblity that the Jazz could wind up in the seventh if Denver lost its last two and Utah won two.

West No. 8: The race for eight is over, we have 16.

Utah’s win over Phoenix clinches at least the 8th for the Jazz. The Jazz can move up with two Nuggets losses and a win over Portland.