Basketball On The Internet.

From BOB CRAVEN in the US

THE NBA regular season ends tonight (April 10).

The play-in games to determine the 7th and 8th seeds for each Conference will start mid-week, and then the playoffs begin in earnest next weekend with the top eight seeds in each conference starting things up.

But oh for the days when the playoffs were straightforward - top eight teams in each conference made it, and the draw was automatic--No. 1 played No.8, No. 2 played No. 7 and so on. 

The higher seed was always the home team, thus having the advantage of playing one more game at home in a given series, if needed.  Now, 10 teams start the playoffs, the top six teams are definitely in, but then we now have the "play-in" games to see who advances to the main bracket.

In the Eastern Conference this year, the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks will play Tuesday for the No. 7 seed, with the winner playing the Conference No. 2 seed, the Boston Celtics. 

The loser of that game will play Friday against the winner of the game on Wenesday between the Toronto Raptors and the Chicago Bulls for the No. 8 seed, and then the fun starts.

In the Western Conference, the LA Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves play Tuesday for the No. 7 seed, with a first-round matchup against the Conference No. 2 seed, the Memphis Grizzlies, as the prize. 

The loser of that game will play Friday against the winner of the Wednesday game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 8 seed.

At that point, all eight seeds will have been determined and the main playoffs will start Saturday and Sunday.  The Milwaukee Bucks are the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Denver Nuggets are No.1 in the West.

In the West, the two most interesting matchups in my opinion will be the Sacramento Kings against the Golden State Warriors.  The W's are back healthy (meaning both Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are back playing and playing well) and they are the defending champs, while the Kings have been playing well all year, led by 210cm Domantas Sabonis in the middle, the Oregon-born son of Lithuanian Arvydas Sabonas, one of the all-time greats in the history of basketball.

He is the league's leading rebounder and has been playing well, especially lately, racking up several triple doubles over the last couple of weeks.  He and the guards run the pick-and-roll so well that some veteran players are comparing them to the golden years of the Utah Jazz with Karl Malone and John Stockton.

The other one is the Phoenix Suns aganst the LA Clippers.  Late in the season, the Suns traded for Kevin Durant in an attempt to take them deep into the playoffs, if not win it all.  Once healthy, Durant proved his worth as the Suns immediately won seven straight games to clinch their spot.  They rested many of their top players after that for the season's final two meaningless games.

Speaking of resting players, that has become a real hot button issue with the league.  Now the league has announced an investigation into the Dallas Mavericks for "tanking". 

In their next-to-last game of the season, they held out several key players, even while the team was still mathematically alive to make the play-in tournament.  The Mavs sat Kyrie Irving and several others, including Aussie Josh Green, for the entire game, and they only played all-star Luka Doncic for one quarter.

Missing the playoffs, and therefore entering the draft lottery, could help ensure Dallas a top-10 draft pick this summer, and with it a potential almost-5 per cent chance of drafting the certain No. 1 pick, 218cm point centre 19-year-old Afro-Frenchman, Victor Wembayama.

Should it come to pass, in the Eastern Conference I will be looking forward to seeing the Bucks with The Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo, match up with the Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid, the league's leading scorer for the second straight year.