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

Seventeen made 3s for CJ McCollum the last two nights. The Pelicans have a chance to sweep the Kings-Warriors road back-to-back. They're up 112-106 on the Warriors with 1:02 left.

With the Lakers’ 123-120 win over the shorthanded Grizzlies, their goal of moving up into the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game remains alive.

The Lakers (46-35) are currently the No. 8 seed, though that's technically due to both the Golden State Warriors (45-35) and Sacramento Kings (45-35) having not yet completed their games. Depending on what happens with the Warriors and Kings, the Lakers could enter Saturday as the No. 8 or 9 seed, which is an improvement from the No. 10 spot at which they began Friday.

Next up for the Lakers is the Pelicans in New Orleans on Sunday. One interesting note with that game: If the Pelicans beat the Warriors on Friday and Phoenix loses to Sacramento, New Orleans will be locked into the No. 6 spot, with incentive to rest their final game against the Lakers. If the Lakers win that, they'd be guaranteed at least the No. 9 spot (again, with a Warriors loss on Friday in this scenario).

There are a lot of moving pieces with the Lakers, like the rest of the West, monitoring where the Denver Nuggets are going to land. The best-case scenario would be being the No. 7 or 8 seed and landing the No. 2 Oklahoma City Thunder or Minnesota Timberwolves — two matchups the Lakers are confident in facing. The worst-case scenario would be drawing the Nuggets in the first round.

With their 125-103 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night, the Miami Heat remained in eighth in the Eastern Conference. However, they could, theoretically, still jump as high as fifth. All it would require is a Heat win on Sunday and a loss by all three of the Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic. That would mean all four teams would finish with a 46-36 record.

So why would the Heat win that particular tie? In any scenario in which more than two teams are tied, a division winner, if one exists, gets the edge. That means the tie between the Magic and the Heat must be broken first, and the Heat won the season series 3-1. Due to head-to-head records, the 76ers would finish sixth in that situation, the Pacers would be seventh and the Magic eighth.

It is unlikely. The 76ers and Pacers both play teams with no motivation to win on Sunday — the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks, respectively. The Heat could finish sixth even if Philadelphia wins, so long as both the Pacers and the Magic, who play the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, lose.

The Milwaukee-Orlando game figures to be the biggest in the Eastern Conference on Sunday. If the Magic win, they will finish fifth in the Eastern Conference, having won the Southeast Division. If they lose, they would fall to eighth if the Heat beat the Raptors. The Bucks need that game to guarantee they finish second. If they lose and the New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, the Knicks would finish second and the Bucks would risk falling as low as fourth if the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Charlotte Hornets.

Simple.

With the Dallas Mavericks' loss to the Detroit Pistons, the LA Clippers have clinched the No. 4 seed. The Clippers have nothing left to accomplish in the regular season standings.

The Cavaliers (48-33) and Knicks (49-32) have both won tonight.

So, unless the Bucks (49-31) make a massive comeback here in Oklahoma City, their seed in the Eastern Conference will now be decided on Sunday.

The Cavaliers haven't fixed all of their issues, but they pulled out a much-needed 129-120 win over the Indiana Pacers to clinch a playoff berth. They're fourth in the East, which is likely where they'll settle when the season concludes Sunday. It's also where they finished last season, albeit with fewer victories this time around.

The 76ers' closing surge continues with a wire-to-wire 125-113 win over the Orlando Magic. Joel Embiid dominated early, Tyrese Maxey closed the door late and Philly now has seven straight victories. Do you want to be the team that draws the 76ers in the first round? Me neither.

The Magic, meanwhile, have dropped three straight winnable games that could have moved them as high as the No. 2 seed had they gone differently. Instead, both the 76ers and Magic are 46-35.

For right now, the 76ers jump up to sixth, one spot ahead of Orlando. If the Pacers lose to Cleveland, they'll be 46-35 as well. In the event of a three-team tie, Orlando would end the night in fifth by virtue of being a division winner, followed by Indiana in sixth and Philadlephia in seventh.

Joel Embiid briefly left the 76ers' game against the Magic late in the second quarter after coming down awkwardly on his left knee. But not to worry, 76ers fans: He walked out to a standing ovation just before the start of the second half and is back in. By the way, he has 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists midway through the third quarter as Philly leads by double digits.

Cleveland's Georges Niang and Indiana's TJ McConnell have been jawing at each other for at least 15 minutes. Niang got a stop on McConnell at the first-quarter buzzer and really celebrated with fist pumps and foot stomps and a lot of talking.

McConnell didn't like it very much and has been going right at Niang these first few minutes of the second quarter. The refs finally told them to knock it off as they headed to the bench for a timeout with 7:12 left in the second. Playoffs!

The Cavaliers needed a fast start at home in a game with massive playoff implications and they got one against the Pacers. Donovan Mitchell scored 13 in the first quarter and Darius Garland's 3 early in the second stretches the lead to double figures. Garland has struggled miserably lately. The Cavs getting him going could go a long way in determining their postseason fate.

The Miami Heat are not in a great position heading into the final weekend of the season. They could win their final two games, both at home against the Toronto Raptors, and still finish eighth in the Eastern Conference. In the last week, they lost a close game in Indiana and got blown out by the Dallas Mavericks. Meanwhile, the Heat's big in-season acquisition, Terry Rozier, will miss his third straight game on Friday night with a neck injury.

It's not all bad, though. Head coach Erik Spoelstra, who started his career in the Heat's video room, fielded a question on Friday night about how fun it is for the fans that only one seed is locked heading into the evening's play.

"That's probably one of the few things that's given me great joy the last couple days, just knowing how miserable the video room is right now trying to prepare and figuring things out," Spoelstra said. "I've been there. It's the small joys in this profession."

The Pelicans are the sixth seed with a win over the Warriors on Friday and a Suns loss; with a loss and a Phoenix win, they’re in jeopardy of finishing seventh.

The Warriors lose a tiebreaker with the Kings, whose final game is at home against the Trail Blazers. Thus, a loss in either of their final two games likely makes the Warriors the 10th seed. In fact, Golden State losing this game could lock New Orleans into the sixth spot and thus cause the Pels to play all their subs against the Lakers on Sunday, basically assuring L.A. stays ahead.

Alternatively, with two wins this weekend, Golden State can still get as high as eighth if Sacramento loses. If the Kings win out, the Warriors can’t get higher than ninth.

The Kings are fighting to avoid landing 10th, needing either to win their last two games to secure the eighth spot, or for a Lakers or Warriors loss and a season-ending win by the Kings over Portland to secure ninth. However, note that Sacramento wins every tiebreaker and thus can still very realistically land in the seventh spot with a win Friday and Sunday and a season-ending Suns loss.

The Suns will be no worse than the seventh seed with a win, and still can be sixth with two wins and a Pelicans loss. On the downside, the Suns can land as low as ninth if they close with two defeats, the Warriors lose at least once, and the Kings and Lakers win out.

Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are probable tonight against the Pelicans. They're expected to return after a night of rest. Jonathan Kuminga is questionable with a right pelvic contusion. Gary Payton II is doubtful with left calf tightness. On the New Orleans side: Brandon Ingram, Naji Marshall and Larry Nance are all out.

Ninety miles away, the Kings will have De'Aaron Fox, who twisted his ankle late in their Thursday night loss, but isn't listed on the injury report against Phoenix. The Suns will have their full rotation available.