x

USA

NBA Sees Seven of the Eight First-Round Matchups Set

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The NBA playoff bracket is nearly set.

Wednesday's results filled in five of what were the six unknown matchups for Round 1 of the postseason, which starts next week at Walt Disney World.

In the Western Conference: Houston and Oklahoma City will meet in the first round, meaning Rockets guard Russell Westbrook and Thunder guard Chris Paul get the chance to face their former teams.

"It'll be interesting," Paul said. "Two teams that know a lot about each other. We'll prepare, get ready and we'll see what's what."

Other West matchups that got clinched on Wednesday include the second-seeded Los Angeles Clippers against No. 7 Dallas, and No. 3 Denver against No. 6 Utah.

In the East, Miami and Indiana will meet in the first round — after the clubs close the regular season on Friday against one another to decide which team will be seeded No. 4 and which will be No. 5.

Indiana's win over Houston on Wednesday set what had been the last two unknown series on the East bracket. No. 3 Boston will play No. 6 Philadelphia in a meeting between longtime rivals, and the Pacers are now locked into an East opening series against the Heat — with the potential of those teams playing nine times in a span of 10 games.

Miami beat Indiana on Monday. The teams meet again Friday then face off in Game 1 to begin a best-of-seven series early next week.

That means, for just the second time since 2011, teams that end the regular season against one another will open the postseason against one another. The last time it happened was 2016, when Cleveland faced Detroit.

"It's good to know that we play them," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Just need to figure out what uniform we're wearing."

That will be decided Friday, when home-uniform advantage gets decided.

"We've got to match Miami's energy," Indiana's Edmond Sumner said. "That's a team that's going to play hard for 48 minutes."

The other East matchups were known previously: No. 1 Milwaukee plays No. 8 Orlando, and No. 2 Toronto plays No. 7 Brooklyn.

In the West, Houston and Oklahoma City will be in the 4-5 matchup and Utah will be the No. 6 seed. The Jazz were locked into that slot by the Thunder defeating Miami, and Denver became the No. 3 seed when they lost to the Clippers.

The full list of matchups won't be known until at least Saturday, when the West play-in series begins with Portland, Memphis, Phoenix and San Antonio bidding for those two spots. The winner of that series will take on the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, the only matchup that's yet to be determined.

RELATED

CHICAGO (AP) — Coby White drew roars from the crowd early on with vicious crossovers and spins toward the basket.

Top Stories

Columnists

A pregnant woman was driving in the HOV lane near Dallas.

General News

NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.

Video

Indians Vote in the First Phase of the World’s Largest Election as Modi Seeks a Third Term

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting Friday in a six-week election that's a referendum on Narendra Modi, the populist prime minister who has championed an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics and is seeking a rare third term as the country's leader.

ATHENS - "Turkiye must respect the European acquis, which fully includes the participation at all levels of the Republic of Cyprus," Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis stressed on Friday in an interview with "Kanali Ena", commenting on the conclusions of the European Council, which link the progress of EuroTurkish relations with developments in the Cyprus issue.

ATHENS - Main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, in an announcement on Friday, expressed "deep concern and its unequivocal condemnation of the new escalation of tension in the Middle East with Israel's show of force against Iran.

VENICE, Italy (AP) — A pair of nude feet — dirty, wounded and vulnerable — are painted on the façade of the Venice women’s prison chapel.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting Friday in a six-week election that's a referendum on Narendra Modi, the populist prime minister who has championed an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics and is seeking a rare third term as the country's leader.

Enter your email address to subscribe

Provide your email address to subscribe. For e.g. [email protected]

You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in our newsletter.