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Sports
The Associated Press

The NBA's playoff chase enters its final days. Here's a look at what's happening

man stands happy
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards reacts as guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker hits a free throw to seal a victory over the Denver Nuggets in the second overtime of an NBA basketball game April 1, in Denver.
AP Photo | David Zalubowski

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It’s playoff-positioning time in the NBA.

Going into Friday, there are 83 games left in the season. The 10 Eastern Conference postseason teams are set; Cleveland, Boston, New York and Indiana are in the playoffs, Detroit and Milwaukee are on the brink of joining them, while Orlando and Atlanta still have a tiny bit of hope of escaping the play-in tournament. Miami and Chicago have clinched play-in spots.

In the Western Conference, Oklahoma City is the No. 1 seed and Houston is in the playoffs. Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State and Memphis enter Friday holding playoff spots, with Minnesota and the Los Angeles Clippers chasing them and trying to stay out of the play-in. Dallas and Sacramento are fighting for play-in berths, with Phoenix, Portland and San Antonio still alive for those as well.

Add it up, and 23 of the 30 teams are still playing for something other than lottery odds with just over a week to go in the regular season.

Friday's games

Sacramento at Charlotte — The Kings would be assured of staying at least one game ahead of Phoenix for the last play-in spot with a win.

Utah at Indiana — Pacers can move closer to that No. 4 seed and home-court in Round 1.

Phoenix at Boston — The Suns will try to snap a four-game slide and it’s a big game for their play-in hopes.

Detroit at Toronto — The Pistons — an amazing story — get into the playoffs with a win.

Portland at Chicago — Almost a must-win for Blazers, big East play-in seed implications for Bulls.

Oklahoma City at Houston — Top two teams in the West standings.

Cleveland at San Antonio — Cavaliers on the brink of clinching No. 1 in the East.

Denver at Golden State — The winner takes a big step toward home-court in Round 1, and this is a possible Round 1 preview as well.

New Orleans at L.A. Lakers — A win ensures the Lakers finish the night no worse than No. 4 in the West and keep home-court positioning for now.

Dallas at L.A. Clippers — Mavericks trying to keep their edge in the race for No. 9 spot, Clippers need a win to help their quest of avoiding play-in.

National TV schedule

NBA TV has a doubleheader Friday: Phoenix at Boston (7:30 p.m.) and Denver at Golden State (10 p.m.).

Saturday's Memphis-Detroit game is also on NBA TV.

Betting odds

Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by Boston (+190), Cleveland (+500), then Denver and the Lakers (both +1400) and Golden State (+1600).

Key dates

April 11 — All 30 NBA teams play.

April 12 — No games.

April 13 — All 30 NBA teams play, end of regular season.

April 15 — The No. 7 and No. 8 finishers in both conferences play to start the play-in tournament. Winners are the No. 7 seed for the playoffs; losers will host play-in elimination games on April 18.

April 16 — The No. 9 and No. 10 finishers in both conferences play. Winners move on to April 18; losers are finished for the season.

April 18 — The April 15 game losers play host to the April 16 game winners. Winners are the No. 8 seed for the playoffs; losers are finished for the season.

April 19 — NBA playoffs begin.

Numbers watch

— Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has 69 consecutive 20-point games, something only Wilt Chamberlain (who twice had 80-game single-season streaks), Oscar Robertson (who had a 76-game single-season streak) and Michael Jordan (who had a 69-game single-season streak) have done in the same season. OKC plays Friday at Houston.

— The league record for 3-pointers made in a season is on pace to fall on Sunday. There have been 31,017 made 3s so far this season; the record is 31,579, set last season.

— Boston (1,356) is seven 3-pointers away from matching the single-season team record, set two years ago by Golden State. The Celtics are on pace to break that mark Friday at home against Phoenix.

— For the first time, the NBA could have three players make 300 3-pointers in a season. Minnesota's Anthony Edwards has 297, Detroit’s Malik Beasley has 295 and Golden State’s Stephen Curry has 286.

Stat of the day

The Thunder went 29-1 against the Eastern Conference this season. That's the best record one team has ever had against the opposite conference.

It doesn't include OKC's loss to Milwaukee in the NBA Cup championship game. But the Thunder against-the-other-conference record would still be the best in NBA history even if that game in Las Vegas was factored into the standings.

Three West teams — 2015-16 Golden State, 2006-07 Dallas and 1999-2000 Lakers — went 27-3 (.900) against the East. The 1995-96 and 1996-97 Chicago Bulls both had 25-3 (.893) marks against the West.

The Thunder’s 29-1 mark is a .967 percentage. At 29-2, if that NBA Cup game counted, it’d still be .935.