NBA playoffs predictions and play-in tournament schedule live updates: Bracket, odds, draft lottery and stats

The Sacramento Kings dismantled the shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, winning 121-82 to secure the ninth seed in the Western Conference. It was the Kings' most lopsided victory of the season. With the Los Angeles Lakers' win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento will officially host the Golden State Warriors in the 9-10 Play-In matchup.

Feels like it was only right for the Kings and Warriors to face off one final time this season for all the marbles and the right to advance to the second round of the Play-In. Less than 365 days ago, Stephen Curry bounced Sacramento out of the first round with a classic 50-point performance in Game 7 on the same court the two teams will meet on Tuesday.

De'Aaron Fox cruised to a game-high 24 points, three steals, three assists and two rebounds on 10-of-14 shooting in just 26 minutes. Domantas Sabonis nearly posted his 27th triple-double of the season, finishing with 18 points, 11 boards and nine dimes on 7-of-10 shooting in 27 minutes. It was such a commanding win, each Kings player in uniform saw at least four minutes.

Sacramento and Golden State split the regular-season series at two games apiece, but the Kings are without a starter in Kevin Huerter and another focal point offensively in Malik Monk. It will be paramount for Sacramento to be on its game Tuesday against a much healthier Warriors team that won 10 of their last 12 to close out the regular season.

With the Lakers' win over the New Orleans Pelicans to close out the regular season, Los Angeles will enter the Play-In tournament as the No. 8 seed and stay in New Orleans to face the No. 7 Pelicans on Tuesday.

The primary concern for the Lakers despite the result is the health of Anthony Davis, who exited the game at the 5:22 mark with an apparent injury. As Davis held his lower back, he gingerly walked to the scorer's table before crouching down and having the team’s training staff stretch out his right leg. Davis has dealt with hip and groin issues this season. The Lakers are 2-4 without Davis this season.

That said, if Davis can play on Tuesday, Los Angeles should feel confident given the regular-season results against the Pelicans. They won the season series 3-1, with all three wins being blowouts. If the Lakers win that game, they set up a rematch with the No. 2 Denver Nuggets, who have won seven straight games against Los Angeles. If they lose to the Pelicans, they'd return to Los Angeles, where they’d host the winner of the No. 9-10 game between the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the standings ... San Antonio took itself from third to fifth in lottery odds and potentially moved its picks down two spots while winning its final two games, while Charlotte and Portland will have a coin flip for the fourth position (if neither moves up in the lottery) because the Hornets somehow won in Cleveland today.

After today's ugly loss to the Lakers, the Pelicans are going to end the season with a 21-19 record at home.

The Chicago Bulls (20-21) are the only team among the top 10 seeds in each conference with fewer home wins than New Orleans.

Anthony Davis appears to have tweaked something and just walked gingerly to the scorer's table as Jaxson Hayes checks in for him. Davis is walking slowly back to the locker room. The Lakers were stretching out his right leg during the timeout.

The NBA playoff picture came down to the final day of the regular season. Now that the dust has settled, here are the matchups:

Play-In Tournament

WEST (Tuesday)

(8) Los Angeles Lakers (47-35) at (7) New Orleans Pelicans (49-33)

(10) Golden State Warriors (46-36) at (9) Sacramento Kings (46-36)

EAST (Wednesday)

(8) Miami Heat (46-36) at (7) Philadelphia 76ers (47-35)

(10) Atlanta Hawks (36-46) at (9) Chicago Bulls (39-43)

Playoff matchups

(1) Boston Celtics (64-18) vs. (8) Play-In Winner

(2) New York Knicks (50-32) vs. (7) Heat/76ers Winner

(3) Milwaukee Bucks (49-33) vs. (6) Indiana Pacers (47-35)

(4) Cleveland Cavaliers (48-34) vs. (5) Orlando Magic (47-35)

(1) Oklahoma City Thunder (57-25) vs. (8) Play-In Winner)

(2) Denver Nuggets (57-25) vs. (7) Lakers/Pelicans winner

(3) Minnesota Timberwolves (56-25) vs. (7) Phoenix Suns (49-33)

(4) LA Clippers (51-31) vs. (5) Dallas Mavericks (50-32)

The Athletic decision desk is calling Phoenix over Minnesota and the Lakers over the Pelicans.

Suns will be sixth seed and play Minnesota again in first round

Lakers and Pels will play again in the same arena in 48 hours for the 7-8 play-in game.

Results also locks in Warriors at Kings as your 9-10 game in the West.

Dalano Banton just put up one of the roughest stat lines in NBA history: 6-of-26 shooting, 0-of-15 from 3, a minus-38 and was just ejected. The Kings blew the Blazers out, as expected, but aren't getting help from the Lakers. So it's looking like they'll host the Warriors in Sacramento on Tuesday night in an elimination game.

The Timberwolves showed a few signs of life late in the third, but Phoenix slammed the door in the fourth. They lead 113-89 with 4:34 to play, and it looks like we're headed for a first-round playoff series between the Suns and Wolves. Bad news for Minnesota, which is about to fall to 0-3 against Phoenix this season.

The Mavericks, locked into the No. 5 seed and a showdown against the L.A. Clippers, had nothing to play for in Sunday’s final game and rested the top eight players of its rotation accordingly. It showed in the season finale, a 135-86 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who played its starters — at least in the first half — to earn the win needed to lock up the No. 1 seed. Both teams now prepare for a first-round series that, if they win, could pit them against each other in a semifinal matchup in the following round. But that’s getting ahead of things: Dallas and L.A. are next up for the third time in five years.

The Athletic's decision desk is calling Denver-Memphis for the Nuggets, with Denver up 19 midway through the fourth quarter. The Oklahoma City Thunder will be the 1 seed because of this. Denver will move up to the 2 seed if Minnesota can't come back.

With the Pelicans down big against the Lakers, all eyes shift to Minnesota, where the Timberwolves have trimmed a 24-point deficit to 11 after three quarters. A Suns win secures the No. 6 seed and a playoff rematch with Minnesota while pushing the Pelicans to the No. 7 seed and a Play-In rematch with the Lakers.

But the Suns are, infamously, the NBA's worst fourth-quarter team. So stay tuned ...

After a 39-43 season, Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan said it could have been worse.

"A lot worse," Donovan said.

Multiple injuries derailed another Bulls season, which ended with a 120-119 overtime road loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday. Chicago finished as the ninth seed and will face the 10th-seeded Atlanta Hawks in a Play-in Tournament game Wednesday in the United Center.

"If I would have said to anybody here, Zach LaVine's out, Patrick Williams is going to be out, and you're going to miss Torrey Craig and you're going to go through all these, and you're going to have to bring back Javonte Green, you would sit there and say 'This team is incapable of having a winning record,'" Donovan said. "So from that standpoint, the hand that we were dealt, I think that they handled it really well."

The Bulls also were a Play-In team last season after finishing in 10th place. They won their first Play-In game at Toronto before losing to the Miami Heat in their second Play-In game.

But Chicago has pulled positives from a 34-29 record after a 5-14 start.

"Organizationally, is this where we want to be going forward? No," Donovan said. "We want to be in a situation where we're making deep playoff runs. We're not that right now. But I give our guys a lot of credit for holding on to the rope and fighting and battling and competing and giving ourselves an opportunity to advance and maybe earn an opportunity to get to the playoffs. They deserve a lot of credit for that.

"As I've mentioned, there's a lot of money that's not playing for us. And our team is what it is. We're not an upper echelon Eastern team right now. That's just a fact of the matter. We're going to work to try to get to that point."

The Lakers lead the Pelicans by 32.

The Kings lead the Trail Blazers by 39.

So all signs point to the Warriors being the 10 seed playing at No. 9 Sacramento on Tuesday