Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m starting to regret picking Rory McIlroy in my Masters draft with some former coworkers.
In today’s SI:AM:
😞 Rory blows up
😎 Scheffler keeps cruising
🔢 First round, by the numbers
Unfinished business
Before the NBA playoffs can begin next week, the league has a lot to decide over the next three days.
Every team in the league has played exactly 80 games. All 30 teams will play on Friday night and again on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the regular season. A lot of the playoff picture has already been determined—at least in the Eastern Conference, where this weekend will only decide seeding. The West is a totally different story. Let’s break it all down.
Western Conference logjam
Three teams in the West (the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers) have clinched spots in the playoffs. Two more (the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks) have clinched spots in the play-in tournament as the Nos. 9 and 10 seeds. That leaves a mess of five teams fighting to secure one of three remaining spots in the top six, while the other two will be relegated to the play-in.
The Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers have the edge at 48–32, while the Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves are all 47–33. The Warriors hold the tiebreaker over both Memphis and Minnesota by virtue of their head-to-head record against both teams.
It’s difficult to lay out all the different scenarios, but two massive games will have the biggest impact on the standings. The Nuggets and Grizzlies will play Friday night in Denver, and whoever wins will hold the tiebreaker over the other team. Then on Sunday, the Warriors and Clippers will square off in another meeting of teams fighting to avoid the play-in. That game will become a lot more interesting if the Clippers lose to the Kings on Friday night.
Lower stakes in the East
The Eastern Conference playoff possibilities are admittedly a lot less interesting. The Cleveland Cavaliers have secured the top seed, followed by the Boston Celtics. The four teams that will take part in the play-in tournament have also been finalized (the Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat), although the order of those teams could change.
There are still two noteworthy battles left to decide, though. The most interesting is between the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons, who currently sit in fifth and sixth place, respectively. That could change by the end of the weekend, though. Milwaukee has a two-game lead over Detroit, but the teams are set to play each other twice over the next three days. If the Pistons win both games, they would get the No. 5 seed by virtue of having the better record in conference games. If the Bucks win either game, they get the No. 5 seed.
No matter how that plays out, the Bucks and Pistons both know they will face either the New York Knicks or the Indiana Pacers, who currently sit in third and fourth place, respectively. The Knicks have a one-game lead over Indiana and own the tiebreaker. Both teams have one game this weekend against the Cavs, who will likely be resting their starters.
It might seem tempting to say that facing Milwaukee is more appealing for the Knicks and Pacers, considering Damian Lillard remains out indefinitely with a blood clot. But after losing four of their first six games following Lillard’s diagnosis, the Bucks are riding a six-game winning streak. The bigger motivation for gunning for the No. 3 seed is that it would mean avoiding a second-round matchup with the Cavs, who have an incredible 34–6 record at home this season.
The best of Sports Illustrated
• The biggest story at Augusta National on Thursday was Rory McIlroy’s stunning collapse at the end of what had been a promising first round. Bob Harig explains what went wrong as Rory collapsed down the stretch.
• Michael Rosenberg argues that McIlroy’s latest Masters disappointment shows the need for him to adjust his approach at Augusta.
• Our experts debated whether that three-hole blowup cost McIlroy a shot at winning the tournament.
• It was a different story for defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who opened his tournament with a bogey-free 68. Harig has more on his excellent first round.
• Harig also covered the most viral story of the first round: the amateur who peed in Rae’s Creek.
• Bryson DeChambeau had an excellent first round of 69. Brian Giuffra looks at how DeChambeau’s continued tinkering with his driver played a role in his success on Thursday.
• John Pluym and Jeff Ritter have a great statistical breakdown of the first round.
• Kyle Koster wrote about what makes the television broadcast of the Masters great.
The top five…
… things I saw yesterday:
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | What’s at Stake on the NBA’s Final Weekend.
