NBA Playoffs: Dramatic season end will determine 11 seeds and all series pairings

Closing night serves up drama aplenty as every first round series in the 2018 NBA Playoffs is yet to be determined.

Finale’s are meant to be packed with intrigue and drama. End of series or seasons of Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Billions offered ample fodder for the B-Boyz and yours truly. Yet, rarely has an end to basketball’s regular season served up as much drama as closing night across the Association.

Not one series is set in stone for the NBA first round, slated to begin this weekend. Teams are working overtime in an effort to compile folders on the various squads they might face. And two teams are still fighting to determine who’ll claim the final seed in the west.

Frankly, I can’t recall a year in remotely close to 2017-18 closing night. Sure, there have been seasons with a few teams claiming last minute berths. And, every year there are usually a couple series cemented on closing night.

But, not one of the 15 teams who claimed their postseason entry knows who they are playing. That includes conference leaders the Toronto Raptors who clinched their spot over a month or the Houston Rockets.

This is unprecedented territory and it sure makes for an exciting finish to this campaign. Of the busy 12 games slated and 24 teams in action eight games and 16 teams will play a role in defining the 2018 NBA Playoffs.

Repeating the efforts from this series the charts were updated to reflect games, tiebreak records and probabilities of seed results. Additionally, I’ve  selected key games with the greatest impact to the larger picture.

With that let’s dive in to the updated brackets.