By Ryan Ottiger, Staff Writer

After a long 82-game season, the NBA playoff bracket is set and shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory.

With 20 teams in the field, four have yet to be eliminated in this year’s Play-In Tournament.

In the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers will compete for the final two playoff spots. The winners will advance to face the Detroit Pistons or Boston Celtics in the first round.

In the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland 

Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns will battle for the final two spots. The winners will move on to face the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.

Outside of the Play-In Tournament, two matchups in each conference are already set. In the East, the No. 3 seed New York Knicks will face the No. 6 seed Atlanta Hawks, and the No. 4 seed Cleveland Cavaliers will host the No. 5 seed Toronto Raptors.

In the West, the No. 4 seed Los Angeles Lakers will face the No. 5 seed Houston Rockets, and the No. 3 seed Denver Nuggets will host the No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves.

Denver and Minnesota have been frequent playoff foes, with Denver winning in 2023 and Minnesota prevailing in an epic seven-game series in 2024.

The Knicks vs. Hawks series features a New York team that has remained a consistent contender in the Eastern Conference and an Atlanta team that has been the conference’s hottest over the past month. The intrigue also centers on Atlanta’s new-look roster, with Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker stepping into leading roles in the team’s post-Trae Young era.

Another Eastern matchup remains undecided, but the Hornets could present a major challenge for Detroit. The 60-win Pistons would not face a typical No. 8 seed. Charlotte has been hot since late January while owning the top-rated starting lineup in the NBA by net rating by a substantial margin. The Hornets also have posted the highest point differential in wins of any team in the history of the NBA, meaning that when they win, they win by large margins. The matchup would also carry an added intensity after multiple players were suspended following a brawl between the teams in February in a matchup where Detroit won.

Other storylines include whether the Thunder can win back-to-back titles, how the Spurs will perform with limited postseason experience and the possibility of a Knicks vs. Celtics rematch.

Recent NBA champions have struggled to repeat, with a different champion crowned each year since 2019. From 2020 to 2025, no defending champion reached the conference finals. Oklahoma City appears more than capable of breaking the trend, though San Antonio posed problems during the regular season, winning four of the five games the two teams played.

The Spurs greatly exceeded preseason expectations, finishing with 61 wins. They enter the playoffs having won a staggering 30 of their last 34 games, led by MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama and feature a dynamic offensive approach with about eight players averaging double figures. Their combination of depth, defense and half-court execution makes them a legitimate title contender despite limited postseason experience.

A potential Celtics vs. Knicks rematch would also be a marquee Eastern Conference matchup, particularly with the return of Jayson Tatum, who tore his Achilles at Madison Square Garden in the playoffs last season. New York eliminated Boston as an underdog, setting up a possible rematch with added stakes.

This year’s NBA playoffs are positioned to deliver high-level basketball and unpredictability, with historically dominant teams like Oklahoma City, emerging contenders such as San Antonio and Detroit, consistent playoff teams including Denver, New York, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Houston and Cleveland, and potential wild cards in Charlotte, Atlanta and Toronto.