NBA Playoff Bracket Set After Final Regular Season Games
NBA Playoff Bracket Set After Final Regular Season Games...
The 2026 NBA playoff bracket is officially locked in after Sunday's dramatic conclusion to the regular season. With several seeding battles coming down to the final games, basketball fans across the U.S. are buzzing about the matchups as the postseason begins this weekend.
The Denver Nuggets secured the Western Conference's top seed with a 112-108 win over Memphis, edging out the Oklahoma City Thunder by one game. In the East, the Boston Celtics claimed the No. 1 spot for the third straight year after finishing with a league-best 62-20 record.
Key first-round matchups include a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals between Boston and Miami (No. 8 seed), while the West features a showdown between the young Houston Rockets (No. 3) and veteran Phoenix Suns (No. 6). The play-in tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday will determine the final two spots in each conference.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver noted the competitive balance this season, with 12 teams finishing within five games of each other in the Western Conference. "The parity we're seeing makes this one of the most unpredictable postseasons in recent memory," Silver told reporters during Sunday's post-game press conference.
Television networks are preparing for strong ratings, with ESPN and TNT splitting the first-round broadcast schedule. Game 1 of Celtics-Heat will air Saturday at 8:30 PM ET on ABC, marking the earliest primetime playoff slot in network history.
Fan reaction has been particularly intense on social media, with #NBAPlayoffs trending nationally on Twitter. Many are debating whether this could be the year a play-in team makes a deep run, following last season's surprise conference finals appearance by the 8th-seeded Heat.
Ticket prices for first-round games have already spiked, according to secondary market data from Ticketmaster. The average resale price for Lakers-Nuggets Game 1 in Denver has reached $487, up 63% from last year's comparable matchup.
The complete bracket was released on NBA.com Sunday night, with detailed game schedules expected by Tuesday afternoon. All series follow a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with higher seeds hosting Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 if necessary.
