NBA’s 75th regular season concludes

NBA’s 75th regular season concluded all meaningful games on Monday (PKT) revealing a closer look at the brackets that will decide the 2021/2022 NBA champion.

Through 174 days the most numbers of players than any season in history, primarily because of the ongoing challenge of playing through a pandemic, battled all the way down to the final moments to decide who slots in where.

Kyrie Irving can play at home again after vaccine requirements were eased a few weeks ago by the city of New York in a move that will have an immediate impact on the race to the NBA championship.

Irving and the Brooklyn Nets held off the Indiana Pacers 134-126 on Monday (PKT) and will play host to the first play-in game of this year’s tournament when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers.

No. 9 Atlanta will play host to No. 10 Charlotte with the winner of that game will playing the Nets-Cavaliers loser on Friday to determine who will face No. 1 seeded Miami Heat in an Eastern Conference first-round series.

The Nets-Cavaliers winner will be seeded No. 7 and meet second-seeded Boston in the first round.

The Celtics secured the No. 2 seed on the final day with a win in Memphis, combined with Milwaukee’s loss to Cleveland.

Defending NBA champion Milwaukee will be seeded No. 3 in the East and will play No. 6 Chicago in a first-round series in a bid to repeat as Champions after NBA’s 75th regular season.

The Fourth-seeded Philadelphia will face fifth-seeded Toronto in another East matchup.

 

Final Regular-Season Eastern Conference Standings

1. Miami (53-29)

2. Boston (51-31)

3. Milwaukee (51-31)

4. Philadelphia (51-31)

5. Toronto (48-34)

6. Chicago (46-36)

7. Brooklyn (44-38)

8. Cleveland (44-38)

9. Atlanta (43-39)

10. Charlotte (43-39)

In the West, Golden State Warriors defeated the Pelicans to secure the No. 3 seed that will put them at odds with Nikola Jokic and the 6th seeded Denver Nuggets.

The Mavericks seeded 4th will embark on their playoff series against the Jazz (5th Seed) who remained ahead of the Denver Nuggets with its win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Memphis’ (2nd Seed) first-round opponent will be known when the Minnesota Timberwolves clash with the Los Angeles Clippers. The loser of that contest awaits the New Orleans-San Antonio winner in an elimination showdown.

Final Regular-Season Western Conference Standings

1. Phoenix (64-18)

2. Memphis (56-26)

3. Golden State (53-29)

4, Dallas (52-30)

5. Utah (49-33)

6. Denver (48-34)

7. Minnesota (46-36)

8. Los Angeles Clippers (42-40)

9. New Orleans (36-46)

10. San Antonio (34-48)