The Brooklyn Nets have picked a bad time to lose five straight. With their latest defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, the Nets fell below the play-in line to the No. 7 seed, replaced at No. 6 by the idle Miami Heat.
The Heat and Nets are tied in the loss column and Brooklyn currently holds a 2-0 head-to-head advantage for the season tiebreaker, but Miami sits ahead at the moment by virtue of having one more win. Which is to say, the Nets still control their own destiny to finish ahead of Miami with two more head-to-head matchups remaining, but the same can be said for the Heat now.
Also, the Knicks fell to the Magic on Thursday, their third straight defeat, and are now just one game up in the loss column on the No. 6 Heat and No. 7 Nets.
Below is a comprehensive snapshot of where things stand in the Eastern Conference playoff and play-in races entering play on Friday. This post will update daily throughout the remainder of the regular season or until all seeds are clinched.
Reminder on how the play-in tournament works: No. 7 plays No. 8 and No. 9 plays No. 10. The winner of the 7-8 game gets the No. 7 seed, while the loser plays the winner of the 9-10 game for the No. 8 seed.
READ: Western Conference playoff picture
NOTE: Our SportsLine model, developed by predictive data engineer Stephen Oh, simulates the entire season 10,000 times to produce the most unbiased and precise projections imaginable.
- Projected seed: 1
- Current first-round matchup: TBD
- Tiebreaker vs. Boston: Tied 1-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Philadelphia: Sixers lead 2-1 with one to play
- Projected seed: 2
- Current first-round matchup: vs. Nets-Hawks play-in winner
- Tiebreaker vs. Milwaukee: Tied 1-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Philadelphia: Celtics clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Cleveland: Cavs clinched
- Projected seed: 3
- Current first-round matchup: vs. Heat
- Tiebreaker vs. Milwaukee: Tied 1-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Philadelphia: Celtics clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Cleveland: Sixers clinched
- Projected seed: 4
- Current first-round matchup: vs. Knicks
- Tiebreaker vs. Boston: Cavs clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Philadelphia: Sixers clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. New York: Knicks lead 2-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Brooklyn: Tied 1-1 with one to play
5. New York Knicks (42-33)
- Projected seed: 5
- Current first-round matchup: at Cavs
- Tiebreaker vs. Cleveland: Knicks lead 2-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Brooklyn: Knicks currently own via division win percentage
- Tiebreaker vs. Miami: Knicks lead 2-1 with one to play
6. Miami Heat (40-34)
- Projected seed: 7
- Current first-round matchup: at 76ers
- Tiebreaker vs. New York: Knicks lead 2-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Brooklyn: Nets lead 2-0 with two to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Atlanta: Heat clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Toronto: Raptors lead 2-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Washington: Heat leads 2-1 with one to play
PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT
7. Brooklyn Nets (39-34)
- Projected seed: 6
- Current first-round matchup: vs. Hawks (play-in)
- Tiebreaker vs. Cleveland: Tied 1-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. New York: Knicks currently own via division win percentage
- Tiebreaker vs. Miami: Nets lead 2-0 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Atlanta: Nets lead 2-1 with one to play
8. Atlanta Hawks (36-37)
- Projected seed: 8
- Current first-round matchup: at Nets (play-in)
- Tiebreaker vs. Brooklyn: Nets lead 2-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Miami: Heat clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Toronto: Hawks clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Washington: Hawks leads 2-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Chicago: Bulls lead 2-1 with one to play
9. Toronto Raptors (35-38)
- Projected seed: 9
- Current first-round matchup: vs. Bulls (play-in)
- Tiebreaker vs. Miami: Raptors lead 2-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Atlanta: Hawks clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Washington: Tied 1-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Indiana: Pacers clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Chicago: Raptors clinched
10. Chicago Bulls (34-38)
- Projected seed: 10
- Current first-round matchup: at Raptors (play-in)
- Tiebreaker vs. Toronto: Raptors clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Washington: Bulls currently own via conference win percentage
- Tiebreaker vs. Indiana: Pacers clinched
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
11. Indiana Pacers (33-40)
- Projected seed: Lottery
- Tiebreaker vs. Toronto: Pacers clinched
- Tiebreaker vs. Washington: Pacers currently own via conference win percentage
- Tiebreaker vs. Chicago: Pacers clinched
- Projected seed: Lottery
- Tiebreaker vs. Toronto: Tied 1-1 with one to play
- Tiebreaker vs. Indiana: Pacers currently own via conference win percentage
- Tiebreaker vs. Chicago: Bulls currently own via conference win percentage
