It took until Game 82, but we finally got ourselves an NBA playoff bracket.
Heading into the final day of the season, only three of the 20 playoff seeds were locked, but Sunday quickly became a laughable excuse for basketball. Six games saw favorites of 14 points or more, and all 30 teams played but only two games finished within single digits.
The early slate of Eastern Conference games had the best action of the day, with the Knicks holding the Bulls off in overtime to clinch the No. 2 seed after both the Bucks and Cavs lost — the latter in disgraceful tanking fashion against the Hornets in the final minutes.
The late afternoon slate wasn't much better. A huge Lakers-Pelicans game quickly turned into a blowout, the Suns steamrolled the Timberwolves, and voila, we had ourselves a bracket.
Here are the matchups we know will take place in the first round:
Eastern Conference
No. 3 Bucks vs. No. 6 Pacers
No. 4 Cavaliers vs. No. 5 Magic
Western Conference
No. 3 Wolves vs. No. 6 Suns
No. 4 Clippers vs. No. 5 Mavericks
And here are the play-in matchups:
Eastern Conference
No. 7 76ers vs. No. 8 Heat
No. 9 Bulls vs. No. 10 Hawks
Western Conference
No. 7 Pelicans vs. No. 8 Lakers
No. 9 Kings vs. No. 10 Warriors
So, who were the winners and losers on Sunday?
WINNER: The NBA's play-in setup
The games Sunday weren't great, but the fact that 17 of the 20 spots were still up in the air was a huge win for the play-in setup. Every spot up the seeding mattered.
The Lakers played hard for the No. 8 seed and now have two chances to win once. The Suns and Sixers battled to get out of the play-in race altogether. The Western Conference's No. 1 seed came down to three teams on the final day for the first time. The Knicks played hard for the East's No. 2 seed. The Magic upset the Bucks to escape the play-in and guarantee themselves a playoff berth.
And the Bulls? Well, they just tried hard for the heck of it.
There's little question at this point that the NBA Play-in Tournament is a huge win for the NBA. It's keeping more teams and fans engaged longer, giving us (presumably) competitive games in the final week and day of the season, and setting up a whopper of a play-in schedule.
WINNER: An awesome play-in tournament week ahead
The play-in games look awesome — all the teams that were supposed to be good this season with aging players who couldn't stay healthy or get the job done. These teams may not be able to go seven rounds with the big dogs anymore, but darn it if we won't get excited for some March Madness-style knockout games.
LeBron James and the Lakers have already beat the pants off the Pelicans in two big games this season — once in the In-Season Tournament and again Sunday, pushing New Orleans into this Tuesday rematch. Can I interest you in LeBron vs. Zion Williamson? Brandon Ingram against his old team? Anthony Davis against his body, err, his former team?
The Tuesday nightcap is a more recent rivalry, bringing back a Warriors-Kings matchup that went seven wildly entertaining games in the first round a year ago. De'Aaron Fox sliced up Golden State a year ago, but Steph Curry had some huge moments too. Domantas Sabonis made all sorts of enemies in the Bay, and now Chris Paul enters the fray.
Whoever wins that one gets a knockout game Friday against LeBron or Zion for a chance to play the young Thunder in round one. Giddy up.
Wednesday we head out East for 76ers-Heat, with Miami fresh off a Finals run as a No. 8 seed and Philadelphia the team everyone fell over themselves to avoid on Sunday. Joel Embiid is healthy(ish) and ready to go, and Jimmy Butler will face the team he abandoned.
Should be a black-and-blue game with huge stakes on the line. Winner gets the Knicks. Loser has to win Friday night just to earn a chance to face the juggernaut Celtics.
The Bulls and Hawks will also participate in the play-in. We can't win 'em all.
LOSER: Minnesota Timberwolves
The Wolves might have been the biggest loser on Sunday.
Minnesota got punked at home by the Suns with the No. 1 seed potentially on the line, and now the second-best regular season in franchise history could have a sour ending. Instead of the top seed, home-court advantage throughout the playoffs and avoiding the defending champs, the Wolves bought themselves a full series against the team that just demolished them, up 44-22 after a quarter, and all that just to take the show on the road against the Nuggets.
The Timberwolves have an awesome defense. They're top four in second-chance points and points in the paint and top six in both turnovers forced and defensive rebounding. They lapped the field defensively. But what good does all that rim protection defense do if the other team just wants to shoot pull-up jumpers over your two centers all night? Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are a nightmare matchup.
The Wolves have only won even a single playoff series in one season in franchise history, two decades ago. After Sunday, they're in danger of keeping that streak alive.
Get Suns-Wolves series odds here.
WINNER: The defending champion Nuggets
Stop me if you've heard this before, but everything's coming up Nuggets.
It's hard to imagine Sunday working out any better for Denver. The Nuggets didn't get the No. 1 seed but may not have wanted it, avoiding Clippers-Mavs in the second round. They avoided the Suns, a bad matchup, for at least a round, and they earned home court against the Wolves — and may not have to face them at all.
The No. 2 seed means Denver will open against either the Lakers or the Pelicans. The Nuggets have won eight straight against the Lakers after sweeping them out of the Western Conference Finals last season, so it's hard to imagine Denver losing much sleep over that one.
The champs didn't get the No. 1 seed, but they got the path of least resistance.
LOSER: Cavs … like, as a franchise
With six minutes left in the season and the Bucks headed toward a loss, the Cleveland Cavaliers — even after a season besieged by injuries to every major player — led the 20-61 Hornets' backups by six points with a chance to clinch the Central Division and potentially get as high as the No. 2 seed in the East.
That's when Cleveland pulled the plug.
The Cavs unleashed 2017 Finals leftovers Damian Jones and Tristan Thompson (yes, seriously) along with Emoni Bates and something called Pete Nance and were promptly outscored 18-2 down the stretch in a ghastly finish to the season as the home fans booed lustily.
Well, that's certainly one way to wrap the season.
It's pretty clear Cleveland did the math and decided it would rather go ahead and lock in that No. 4 seed and a winnable matchup against the Magic than get a division banner and end the year on a high note and a No. 2 seed that might set the Cavs up for a real run.
Nah, why do that when you can just throw 81.9 games of hard work away in front of the hard-working fans who paid to watch this disaster and embarrass yourself by tanking for the chance to maybe win a single series and then face the Celtics a round earlier? Awesome.
It was a loser move by a loser franchise.
Get Magic-Cavs series odds here.
WINNER: The title favorite Celtics
Cleveland's chicanery set the Celtics up perfectly, with what should effectively amount to a second-round bye and a week off before the Eastern Conference Finals.
With all due respect to the Cavs and Magic, of the 16 teams that will make up the final playoff bracket, there's a pretty good chance the other 14 teams would all choose to play either of those teams first. Now Boston gets to do that by default, once it gets past the first round.
Of course, the Celtics might end up accidentally facing Embiid and the Sixers in round one, but the way Boston's luck is running, they might luck into drawing the Bulls or Hawks.
Double bye into the Eastern Conference Finals? Don't mind if I do.
LOSER: Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks looked pretty content to coast into the No. 3 seed and avoid Embiid and the Sixers for a round, and fair enough with Giannis Antetokounmpo injured.
But Milwaukee's fall out of the No. 2 seed also means a matchup against the Indiana Pacers, a team that won four of five matchups with the Bucks, including one that knocked Milwaukee out of the In-Season Tournament semifinals.
The Pacers scored at least 122 points in all five games against the Bucks, averaging 128.8 points per game, and now Milwaukee may have to keep up for a game or three without Antetokounmpo.
It's too soon to lock in too many series bets this early, but mark me down for this one right now. Indiana can absolutely knock Milwaukee right out of the playoffs.
Give me Pacers +1.5 on the series line, Pacers outright, Pacers -1.5, Pacers -2.5. It's escalator season.
Get Bucks-Pacers series odds here.
WINNER: The No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder got a new lease on life after Denver choked away a game to San Antonio on Friday night, and Oklahoma City didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
The Thunder led Dallas 104-49 at one point in the biggest farce of the day, and Minnesota's loss locked the Thunder into the No. 1 seed in a remarkable turnaround. This team won 24 games just two seasons ago. They didn't make any huge trades, didn't luck into any crazy signings. They just drafted and developed and here they are, just two years later.
The No. 1 seed means the Thunder only have to face one of the Nuggets or Wolves, and not for two rounds. It also means avoiding the Suns and likely the Lakers, a terrible matchup for Oklahoma City.
It still won't be easy for a young team that's never been here before, but Sunday was a heck of a win.
WINNER: NBA fans
The NBA playoffs are finally here.
We waited all year, and we made it. The marathon is over. Now the sprint to the finish line begins.
Starting Tuesday night, we'll have postseason NBA action just about every night until June.
We made it. Let's playoff.
