The NBA playoff field is officially set, and all it took to get here was over six months, a full regular season and a week-long play-in tournament.
The final piece to that puzzle, the second-annual play-in tournament, finally concluded Friday — giving us the official playoff field for 2023.
The Miami Heat narrowly edged out the Chicago Bulls at Kaseya Center to earn the eight and final seed in the Eastern Conference, with Jimmy Butler and Max Strus (???) combining for 62 points to lead them to victory. In the Western Conference, it was the Minnesota Timberwolves who thumped the Oklahoma City Thunder at Target Center to punch their ticket to the postseason.
Now that all is said and done, here is what the first-round matchups will look like.
Eastern Conference
1. Milwaukee Bucks (58-24)
2. Boston Celtics (57-25)
3. Philadelphia 76ers (54-28)
4. Cleveland Cavaliers (51-31)
5. New York Knicks (47-35)
6. Brooklyn Nets (45-37)
7. Atlanta Hawks (41-41)
8. Miami Heat (44-38)
Here are the first-round matchups in the East following Atlanta and Miami’s triumphs in the play-in tournament.
No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 8 Miami Heat
No. 2 Boston Celtics vs. No. 7 Atlanta Hawks
No. 3 Philadelphia 76ers vs. No. 6 Brooklyn Nets
No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 5 New York Knicks
Western Conference
1. Denver Nuggets (52-29)
2. Memphis Grizzlies (51-31)
3. Sacramento Kings (48-33)
4. Phoenix Suns (45-37)
5. Los Angeles Clippers (44-38)
6. Golden State Warriors (44-38)
7. Los Angeles Lakers (43-39)
8. Minnesota Timberwolves (42-40)
Here are the first-round matchups in the West following Los Angeles and Minnesota’s play-in tournament wins.
No. 1 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 8 Minnesota Timberwolves
No. 2 Memphis Grizzlies vs. No. 7 Los Angeles Lakers
No. 3 Sacramento Kings vs. No. 6 Golden State Warriors
No. 4 Phoenix Suns vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers
