Wild NBA Playoff Race Ends Today

For the first time in league history, the NBA playoff race has three teams tied at the top of the Western Conference heading into the final day of the regular season. Oklahoma City, Minnesota, and Denver are all 56-25 heading into game No. 82 today. Only five of the 20 postseason seeds are locked in. Sunday’s NBA playoff race will determine the other 15.

The No. 1, No. 9, and No. 10 spots in the East are already determined. They belong to Boston, Chicago, and Atlanta, respectively. The rest of the East’s NBA playoff race will shake out today. In the West, only the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds are locked up. They belong to the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks.

There are a number of scenarios in the NBA playoff race. Sports Hub will try and make some sense of those so you know exactly what to do today. Here we go!

NBA Playoff Race – Eastern Conference

The one game that really matters today is Milwaukee at Orlando. The Bucks are currently second and the Magic is fifth in the East. Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, Indiana, and Miami all play games that they are expected to win. If they all win and the Bucks beat the Magic then the NBA playoff race in the East would end up like this:

• No. 1: Boston
• No. 2: Milwaukee
• No. 3: New York
• No. 4: Cleveland
• No. 5: Indiana
• No. 6: Philadelphia
• No. 7: Miami
• No. 8: Orlando
• No. 9: Chicago
• No. 10: Atlanta

In this NBA playoff race scenario, Milwaukee and New York would both end up with 50 wins. The Bucks would win the tiebreaker and the second seed. Miami and Orlando would also be tied with 46 wins and the Heat own the tiebreaker. Following along so far?

Now, what if Orlando manages to break its three-game losing streak and beat the Bucks? Well, that changes things. Let’s assume that Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, Indiana, and Miami take care of business as expected. The resulting NBA playoff race would like this:

• No. 1: Boston
• No. 2: New York
• No. 3: Cleveland
• No. 4: Milwaukee
• No. 5: Orlando
• No. 6: Indiana
• No. 7: Philadelphia
• No. 8: Miami
• No. 9: Chicago
• No. 10: Atlanta

The big deal in this NBA playoff race scenario is the three-way tie between Orlando, Indiana, and Philadelphia. Despite the Magic owning a 2-4 record against the other two teams, the Magic would get the No. 5 seed because they would be the winners of the Southeast Division.

Remember, this is all based on five teams winning games they should win. What if they don’t? Then, there are tons of other NBA playoff race scenarios.

NBA Playoff Race – Western Conference

There is even more chaos in the NBA playoff race in the West. None of the top three teams in the West control their own destiny, meaning they need to win and get help from another team in order to secure the No. 1 seed. The most likely scenario is this.

Oklahoma City plays Dallas, a team that is already guaranteed the No. 5 seed regardless of what happens today. It’s likely that the Mavs could rest some of their stars. That would make it a little easier for the Thunder. Denver plays Memphis, a team the Nuggets should beat. However, the Nuggets could rest some players in that game. 

Anyway, if OKC beats Dallas and Denver beats Memphis, the Thunder get the No. 1 seed. If the Nuggets lose and Minnesota beats Phoenix, then the TWolves would be No. 1, OKC No. 2 and Denver No. 3. If all three teams win, it’s OKC, Minnesota, Denver.

Confused? There’s even more NBA playoff race drama at the bottom of the standings. The Lakers can earn the No. 8 spot in the play-in tournament with a win over New Orleans today. If that happens, the Lakers would remain in New Orleans and play them again on Tuesday. 

Should the Lakers lose, that opens the door for Sacramento. The Kings would be the No. 8 team if they beat Portland, which they are favored to do. A Lakers loss would also most likely pit them in a game against Golden State in the play-in tournament.

MMA Prime Crushes UFC 300 Last Night

I mentioned our MMA Prime handicapper who had been at the top of our MMA leaderboard over the past 60 to 90 days. If you had jumped on board with MMA Prime’s picks for UFC 300 last night, you’d be almost $2000 richer. MMA Prime had a great night at the ticket window cashing winners left and right.

The rest of yesterday’s Top 5 was even more validation for why you need a Sports Hub membership. Read on to see how it all played out.

Here’s yesterday’s Top 5.

• MMA Prime – Sports Hub: Now, this is the power of MMA Prime. When there is a UFC event, visit our members area, look up MMA Prime, and follow the picks. Last night at UFC 300, MMA Prime went 20-0! Yes, you read that right…20-0! The profit? $1840. Over the last 30 days, MMA Prime is now 27-0 and has earned $2856. Why would you not follow these picks at the next UFC event? 
• Sal Lombardi: Sal is back in the Top 5, which is nothing new really. He went 8-3 and took home $460. 
• Robert Ferguson: Robert is another Sports Hub expert that you’ll see in the daily Top 5 from time to time. Yesterday was one of those times. Robert went 4-0 and earned $400.
• Sports Central: A day after going 6-1 and earning $552, Sports Central was back for more yesterday. SC went 5-2 and earned $326. That puts Sports Central up $1045 for the last 30 days.
• Sports Hub Free Picks: Our very own Free Picks went 3-0 and won $300 yesterday. That would have been an easy $300 for members. Log into the picks database. Find Sports Hub Free Picks. Place your bets. Collect $300. Hmmm, sounds like a good gig. You do need a Sports Hub membership though and it’s free!

UFC Trending After Big Night

All night long, the card at UFC 300 continued to deliver. It culminated with a blast in Round 1 of the main event. While that was happening, Scottie Scheffler continued to deliver at Augusta and heads into today in search of a green jacket.

It’s the final day of the NBA regular season and the NBA playoff race is definitely trending. We’ll look at that again when we get to today’s schedule. 

For now, here’s what is trending in sports.

• Pereira wins: Alex Pereira pounded Jamahal Hill in last night’s UFC 300 main event. Pereira retained his light heavyweight title, nailing Hill with a left hook to end the fight 3 minutes and 14 seconds into the first round.
• Harrison chokes out Holm: Two-time Olympic judo champion Kayla Harrison choked out UFC legend Holly Holm in the second round of their UFC 300 bout last night. Harrison will be gunning for a UFC title later this year.
• Holloway wins BMF: If you don’t remember what the BMF title is, you’ll have to go back and read yesterday’s Daily Report. Max Holloway delivered a last-second KO of Justin Gaethje to claim the BMF title last night. 

• Scheffler leads: Scottie Scheffler headed into today’s final round at the Masters with a one-shot lead. 

NBA Playoff Race Comes Down to Final Day

It’s the final day of the 2023-24 NBA season and most of the playoff spots are undecided. By last this afternoon, it will have sorted itself out. Don’t forget, the play-in tournament starts on Tuesday and Sports Hub’s NBA Playoffs Bracket Contest will start when the first round of the playoffs start on Friday.

Here’s what’s on today’s schedule.

1. TNT NHL doubleheader: There are four NHL games today and TNT will broadcast two of them. Seattle is at St. Louis at 1 p.m. and Colorado plays in Vegas at 3:30 p.m. The Blue were eliminated from the postseason. Vegas has qualified.
2. Sunday baseball: All 30 MLB teams finish out their weekend series today. San Diego plays at Dodger Stadium against their NL West rivals tonight. That is ESPN’s Sunday night baseball game. 
3. Final day: All 30 NBA teams play today. There are a number of huge games, especially in the West where the results of Denver-Memphis, Dallas-Oklahoma City, and Phoenix-Minnesota will determine who gets the No. 1 seed.

4. MLS Part 2: There are two MLS matches today. Atlanta United plays Philadelphia and St. Louis City SC hosts Austin FC. There were 12 matches yesterday.
5. Big-time soccer: The world’s top leagues – Premier League, Bundesliga, etc. – will play again today. Arsenal is a huge (-380) favorite over Aston Villa today in the Premier League.
6. Race for the green jacket: The final round of the 2024 Masters is today. As mentioned earlier, Scottie Scheffler entered the final round with a one-shot lead.
7. Tennis: Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Casper Ruud in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The men are now playing in the BMX Open in Munich, the Barcelona Open, and the Tiriac Open in Bucharest. The women are now playing the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the Open Capfinances Rouen Metropole, and the Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal.
8. UFL: The final two games of Week 3 will be played today. Houston plays Michigan and St. Louis plays San Antonio. A win by San Antonio would give the Brahmas a 3-0 record, the same as Birmingham, which beat Memphis 33-14 yesterday.
9. NASCAR: The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 starts today at Texas Motor Speedway at 3:30 p.m. ET. Kyle Larson starts in the pole and is a +350 favorite to win.

The NBA playoff race will get much clearer later today. All games should be complete by 6:00 p.m. and we’ll know exactly which teams are in the play-in tournament and the top six seeds in each conference. Place your wagers wisely today and do yourself a favor…consult the experts at Sports Hub before you open up that sportsbook app. You won’t be sorry you did!