Welcome back to our NBA coverage here at Total Apex Sports. The 2024 NBA season concluded on Sunday, and the play-in tournament will commence on Tuesday. The Oklahoma City Thunder clinched the top seed out west. The New York Knicks finished with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Milwaukee Bucks – who had held down the No. 2 spot for most of the season – fell to the No. 4 spot in the conference playoff race. Did your favorite team(s) finish the season as expected?
Here is a look at the biggest losers from the final weekend of the season.
Fourth Biggest Losers: Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers finished in the play-in field last season, and they find themselves in that position again. In 2022-23, the Lakers notched the seventh seed en route to an unexpected run to the Western Conference Finals. In that round, they were upended by the eventual champion Denver Nuggets 4-0.
The Lakers’ opponent in the play-in round is the New Orleans Pelicans. Brandon Ingram’s return to the fold could be the x-factor in this matchup. Guess which team awaits Los Angeles should this team manage to get by the Pelicans. Yep, you guessed it, the Denver Nuggets. In three regular-season meetings between these two teams, the Nuggets came out on top each time, albeit two of the victories were by single digits.
After failing to capture the top spot in the conference, look for the Nuggets to make quick work of the Lakers for the second consecutive year as they seek to successfully defend their NBA crown. Again, though, the Lakers would need to beat the Pelicans first.
Third Biggest Losers: New Orleans Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans were in the No. 6 spot in the conference playoff race for a bit but now find themselves in the play-in round against a Lakers team that they have not fared well against this season. In the first of four meetings on Dec. 7, the Lakers clobbered them to the tune of 133-89.
A month later, New Orleans bounced back with a resounding 129-109 victory to even the season series at one game apiece.
In the third meeting, the Pels led by three points after the first 12 minutes of action but were outscored 51-35 in what proved to be the decisive quarter of that contest. The Lakers went on to win that game 139-122 while shooting a blistering 55.7 percent from the field and 45.2 percent from beyond the arc.
And in the regular season finale, the Lakers triumphed again with a 124-108 victory, setting up the stage for this 7-vs-8 matchup. Can the Pels overcome their lack of success against Los Angeles or will the purple and gold earn the seventh seed for the second straight season?
Second Biggest Losers: Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers were one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference for a good chunk of the season. Then it happened. Joel Embiid went down with a meniscus injury and did not return to the team’s rotation until recently. If not for that injury, the Sixers’ narrative would be considerably different than what we see right now.
Despite falling several spots in the conference playoff race, the Sixers finished the season on a positive note. They produced victories in each of their last eight games, closing out the 2023-24 campaign with the league’s longest active winning streak, catapulting them from the No. 8 spot to the No. 7 spot.
Another notable turn of events that impacted the Sixers was the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained an injury earlier in the week, forcing him to miss the team’s final three games. Had Milwaukee defeated the Orlando Magic on Sunday, the Sixers could have avoided the play-in round altogether, but it was not in the cards.
As it stands, the Sixers have a date with the eighth-seeded Miami Heat. That is not a great matchup as the Heat knocked off the top-seeded Bucks in last year’s playoffs. If the Sixers do get by the Heat, their reward will be a first-round matchup with the New York Knicks — a team that finished with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2012-13.
Biggest Losers: Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves top the list as the biggest losers of the final weekend of the regular season. They entered the season finale in a three-way tie for the best record in the Western Conference. Not only that, but they owned the tiebreaker against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That said, the task was simple. Win and they secure home-court advantage through the conference finals. Unfortunately, the Timberwolves failed to capitalize on their opportunity, as they fell to the Phoenix Suns by a 125-106 margin. As a result, Minnesota slipped to the No. 3 spot.
Ironically, their first-round opponent is none other than the Suns teams that beat them by a decisive margin in the season finale. In addition to that victory, the Suns defeated the Timberwolves by a 133-115 margin in the first of three meetings between these two ball clubs. And they followed that up with a 97-87 win when these teams clashed in early April.
While Minnesota is 0-3 against the Suns this season, the good news is that the team finished with the best defense in the association this season. They will certainly need a solid effort at that end of the floor to knock off an opponent that boasts a pair of talented scorers in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
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