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

Atlanta Hawks All-Star Trae Young is returning from a torn radial collateral ligament in his left pinkie finger Wednesday night against the Charlotte Hornets, a league source confirmed. ESPN first reported the news.

Young last played against the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 23, and the Hawks have gone 12-11 in his absence. Atlanta (36-43) is currently 10th in the Eastern Conference with three regular-season games remaining. As it stands, the Hawks would be on the road against the Chicago Bulls in the Play-In Tournament.

The three-time All-Star has averaged 26.4 points and a career-best 10.8 assists on 37.1 percent from 3-point range over 51 games this season.

The dismal start against the Clippers — even with a strong second half that closed the margin to seven — left the Suns searching for answers, even though at this point they may not exist. After the game, coach Frank Vogel and players were asked about accountability and urgency. And about how a team fighting to stay out of the Play-In Tournament could come out so flat in the regular season's final week.

"I know people want us to place blame on one player or a coach, but we win or lose as a team," said Kevin Durant, who shot 8 of 22 and had 21 points.

Vogel's biggest disappointment: "Our offensive toughness,’" he said. "We got to compete for spots. (We got to) play through physicality better, not just in this game, but in recent games. Teams want to get into us and reroute us and foul us. That's playoff basketball."

For some teams, the regular season doesn't matter as much. It does, but the pursuit is more about the postseason. This happened 20 years ago when the Suns had it rolling with Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and Amar'e Stoudemire. Phoenix was so connected that the regular season was mostly a formality. Everyone focused on the playoffs and how the Suns could get past Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

This team gives off a similar vibe, it just has'’t earned it. Durant has won championships. Booker has been to the NBA Finals. Bradley Beal has had individual success, but all this happened in different places with different teams. The experience doesn't completely transfer over. Chemistry with this team has never been established. Leadership was never defined. Perhaps the best example has come against short-handed teams, those playing without star players. The Suns know this can make an opponent dangerous, yet it's a hurdle they've never overcome, a lesson never learned.

Read more here.

Minnesota star Karl-Anthony Towns is expected to return from injury in one of the Timberwolves' final regular season games (tonight in Denver, Friday vs. Atlanta or Sunday vs. Phoenix), league sources tell The Athletic. Towns attacked rehab and impressed Timberwolves teammates and coaches with his recovery from a left knee lateral meniscus tear in early March.

Donovan Mitchell didn’t play Sunday due to injury management on his bothersome left knee. He told me he was healthy and healed from the injection he received to cure a bone bruise, but I don't think that's the case. He’s looked slow and uncomfortable and won't drive to the paint. On the Cavaliers' recent five-game road trip, he shot 36 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3. With the Cavs fighting for playoff positioning, and the feeling that each of these games matter, I would have liked to see Donovan play against the Clippers. But looking at his numbers and just watching him move, it seems like something is still wrong and his absence was more than a load management situation.

Dean Wade, meanwhile, hasn't played since March 8. He is a critical rotation player who has missed the last 16 games; Cleveland is 5-11 in that stretch. He's already been ruled out for Wednesday's game.

The injury is a knee sprain, but this is a curious situation. He left the team to be present for the birth of his child, and I am told he was then injured at practice and hasn't played since. But before the road trip started, coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Wade's injury was a wear-and-tear situation. He also said he could not guarantee Wade would be back for the playoffs.

One last seeding note for the sickos: Atlanta's double overtime loss to Miami last night may have ended the race for homecourt in the East 9-10 game. The Bulls' magic number is just two, and they still play Detroit and Washington this week.

The other big story tonight in the West, where Minnesota and Denver play in a game that likely determines the conference's top seed. The Wolves have a tiebreak over the Nuggets but the teams are tied in the standings and will each be favored in their final two games. Still lurking is Oklahoma City, who could pilfer the top seed if they win out and the Nuggets beat Minnesota on Wednesday, but lose in San Antonio on Friday.

Not all is lost for Oklahoma City if Minnesota wins, as the Thunder could win out and claim the second seed in that scenario, kicking the Nuggets down to third.

One other big game tonight is the rematch of the Clippers' rout of Phoenix, this time in Los Angeles. The Clips are locked into a 4-5 matchup with Dallas, but another loss for Phoenix would almost certainly banish the Suns to the Play-In Tournament. Phoenix is a game behind New Orleans already and doesn't have the tiebreak.

With three difficult games remaining against the Clippers, Kings and Wolves — all on the road — Phoenix also needs to start sweating its rearview mirror. Believe it or not, Golden State's win over the Lakers last night means it’s still possible for the Suns to finish 10th (!) if the Warriors win out and the Lakers win at least once. Phoenix losing all three of these games is possible, especially if the Wolves still have a top seed to play for on Sunday.

Golden State’s win over the Lakers — aided by a record-setting 3-point hailstorm from Steph Curry (expected) and Draymond Green and Gary Payton (unexpected) — not only paves the way for the Warriors to host the Lakers in the Play-In game if they win out, but also provides a semi-realistic pathway to move up to eighth should one of the Kings or Suns falter. The Warriors move up if they win out and either the Kings lose twice, or Phoenix or New Orleans loses three times.

Sacramento lost on Tuesday as well, and the Kings should also be hearing footsteps. With two difficult games still left against Phoenix and New Orleans – albeit both at home – it's still possible for Kings to land 10th with 46 wins. Tiebreaks against Golden State and the Lakers offer a bit of insulation. This is also a big item of interest for Atlanta fans, as the Hawks own the Kings' top-14 protected first-round pick.

New Orleans can't breathe easy either with three tough games still remaining, but last night's results couldn’t have gone better for them. There are scenarios where the Pelicans lose all three games and still get an automatic playoff spot up the sixth seed, though they probably shouldn't test that path out.

After a 14-game Tuesday extravaganza, we have "just" eight tonight, a couple of which have relatively huge implications. And man, did some stuff happen. We had a Giannis Antetokounmpo injury, a Suns meltdown, a Warriors 3-point hailstorm and more. But let's start in the East:

The combination of Milwaukee beating Boston, Orlando losing to Houston and the Antetokounmpo injury sets the stage for two very interesting situations. The first: A potential MAXIMUM CHAOS scenario in the Eastern Conference, where four teams could plausibly end up tied at 49-33.

That seemed rather unlikely until the moment when Giannis toppled over. With him likely to be out for the remainder of the regular season, Orlando’s odd of sweeping its two remaining games against Milwaukee — the first of which is tonight — suddenly tilt from "so you’re saying there's a chance" to "whoa, this could happen." Orlando winning out, Cleveland winning its three remaining home games, Milwaukee beating Oklahoma City on Friday and New York losing once of its final three games would leave all four teams tied.

If that happened, Orlando would win the tiebreaker and be the second seed in the East. New York would be third and Cleveland — the Central division winner — would be fourth and face Milwaukee.

Of course, the Knicks could also win out and claim the second seed for themselves if the Bucks lose twice. Or, the Cavs could lose to Indiana on Friday and fall all the way to sixth.

Or … how about the second crazy scenario where the Bucks lose their final three games (at Oklahoma City and the two against Orlando). In that scenario, it's possible for Milwaukee to fall all the way to sixth in the East, and Indiana would control its own destiny to be the Central Division champion and seeded as high as fourth.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has avoided damage to his left Achilles tendon — a best-case outcome — and his return to play is based on treatment and rehab response for a strained calf, league sources tell The Athletic. Calves are undeniably tricky, and these type of strains have timetable of at least one-to-two weeks. But rehab will determine a length of time for the two-time NBA MVP.

The New Orleans Pelicans handled business after a slow start in Portland and rolled to a 110-100 win over the Trail Blazers. With the Suns' loss to the Clippers tonight, the Pels (47-32) jumped up to the sixth spot in the West and moved two games ahead of the eighth-seeded Kings.

New Orleans also owns the tiebreaker over the Kings, who host the Pels on Thursday. If New Orleans wins its final three games of the regular season (at Kings, at Warriors and vs Lakers), the No. 6 seed will belong to them.

The LA Clippers were able to hold on despite losing 30 points of a 37-point lead, clinching a playoff spot with a 105-92 lead in Phoenix.

The Clippers are locked into the 4-5 matchup after wins by Oklahoma City, Denver, and Minnesota tonight. One more win by the Clippers clinched home court in the first round.

The Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers to move to 44-35. They clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker over LA (45-35) and now control their own destiny for ninth seed. If they beat the Trail Blazers, Pelicans and Jazz this week, they will finish ahead of the Lakers. With two Kings losses or three Pelicans or Suns losses this week, the Warriors can climb into eighth place with 3-0 finish.

Yes, Draymond Green hit five first-half 3-pointers against the Lakers.

The last time he made at least 5 threes in a game was in 2017. He went 5-for-6 in a blowout win against Chicago.

This was the 15th time in his career he's made at least five 3-pointers. His career-high is eight threes in a game, set in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.

Usually, Green hitting three 3-pointers spells doom for the opponent. The Warriors entered Tuesday’s game 61-10 when Green makes 3 or more.

They lost earlier this year with Green making 4-of-8 from 3. That game, he made them all in the first half. The Warriors would later squander a big lead and lose in the final seconds. It snapped a 10-game Warriors win streak when Green makes at least three.

The Denver Nuggets defeat the Utah Jazz 111-95. For Denver, this sets up a monstrous matchup against Minnesota tomorrow night at Ball Arena, with the winner likely taking the West's No. 1 seed. For Utah, this is a 13th consecutive loss.