What a wild ride to finish the NBA regular season!

Two of the heavyweights to begin the season, the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers, battled to stay within touching distance of the playoffs.

One completely missing the boat altogether!

 

The Los Angeles Laker's capitulation to finish the season saw them slip out of the Play-In altogether, and the San Antonio Spurs couldn’t be more grateful to take their place!

 

Brooklyn, on the other hand, finished in 7th position and was at one point staring down the barrel of finishing in the 9 v 10 elimination game late in the season.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie put together a big finish to the season, but they’ll have to do things the hard way if they want to make a championship run this season.

 

8 Play-In teams set their sights on 4 Playoff Spots, and tomorrow we get things started with the 7 v 8 Play-In games.

Brooklyn play host to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team who has surprised just about everyone this season, while the Minnesota Timberwolves go toe to toe with the Los Angeles Clippers.

 

Brooklyn will have the luxury of facing a Cavs team missing their All-Star centre (Jarrett Allen), and the Cavs haven’t been the same since without him.

The Cavs were flying with a top 4 seed for most of the season, having Allen anchor their defence whilst having young rookie stud Evan Mobley alongside him.

This team has plenty of lengths, and along with fellow All-Star guard Darius Garland running the show, this match up proves to be no pushover for the Nets.

Brooklyn’s issue is on the defensive end of the floor, but they’ll have a little bit more offensively to pull away late in this one to secure the 7 seed and a mouth-watering match up at that with the Boston Celtics in the 1st round of the playoffs!

 

Minnesota host the LA Clippers in what proves to be the clear matchup of the Play-In tournament.

Both teams are head and shoulders above both the 9 and 10 seeds in the West, and with the winner to avoid the best team in the league (Phoenix), this one proves to be the one to watch.

With a fully healthy Clippers lineup (outside of Kawhi Leonard), this is no ordinary 8 seed.

Paul George has returned to the lineup late in the season, along with Norman Powell in the last couple of games, so this one will appear to have the scoreboard attendant very busy!

Minnesota has been red hot this season, led by 3 point champion Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, they’ll be looking to bring playoff basketball back to Minnesota for the long term!

In the end, experience will play a key part in tomorrow’s game, and the Clippers have that in droves, as they get the W in Minnesota to face off with the Memphis Grizzlies in round 1 of the playoffs.

 

Both the 9 v 10 matchups have teams we didn’t expect to be in the running here, for different reasons!

Atlanta make an appearance against the youthful Charlotte Hornets, and a Trae Young v LaMelo Ball match up will have the Instagram and Twitter feeds going nuts!

Atlanta made a big run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, and there’s no doubt they’ll be disappointed to be in the position that they’re in.

Granted John Collins is returning to the line-up for this matchup, Atlanta get this done at home in what will be a very high scoring encounter!

 

New Orleans' start to the season was dreadful, but since acquiring CJ McCollum from Portland, this team made a huge move up the standings into 9th position.

The Pelicans play host to the San Antonio Spurs, led by Dejounte Murray, made a mini resurgence of their own to finish the season with the 10 seed.

Just like the other 9 v 10 matchup in the East, this matchup will be another exciting encounter, with the Spurs playing some of the quickest hoops under the guidance of one of the greatest coaches of all time in Pop.

The home team gets it done in this one to draw on a matchup with the T-Wolves for the right to get into the playoffs.

 

For the final day Play-In predictions, Trae Young and the Hawks will come away with the 8 seed in the East, ending the fairy tale season of the Cavaliers.

While out west, Minnesota lock away the 8 seed to match up with the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs.

 

Bauky