Windy: Knicks’ clutch performances could fuel playoff run (2:05)Brian Windhorst and Vincent Goodwill discuss what the Knicks’ third win of the season over the Celtics could mean for the playoffs. (2:05)
NBA InsidersMultiple AuthorsApr 13, 2026, 12:50 AM ET
The final week of regular-season play ended Sunday as all 30 teams were in action to cap the 82-game campaign. Some top seeds sweetened an already dominant run, while bottom-dwelling teams completed their last efforts to tank for the May 10 draft lottery.
Now, there are 20 teams set and seeded to compete for a chance to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June. The play-in tournament will begin Tuesday, as four teams from each conference face off for the last two spots in the playoffs, versus the No. 1 and 2 seeds.
Our NBA insiders break down all 20 postseason-bound teams, their first-round and play-in matchups, biggest questions and key players to watch throughout the run to the 2026 Finals.
How will Boston’s center rotation fare? Neemias Queta and Luka Garza have never been relied upon to be significant postseason contributors, and veteran Nikola Vucevic has never played past the first round. If Boston is to make the deep playoff run it expects, this frontcourt group will be tested. — Tim Bontemps
What will Jayson Tatum look like? It already has been a remarkable comeback for him to be playing less than a year after tearing an Achilles tendon — and quickly winning a conference Player of the Week award, to boot. But for Boston to be a true title threat, Tatum will need to return to something closer to his pre-injury form. — Bontemps
Can Towns be the true second option New York needs? He has had a more productive second half of the season but has needed to find his offense off the glass rather than getting everything run through him. Towns and Brunson have found chemistry lately, but the pressure is greater on Towns than on any star-level player this postseason. — Goodwill
Mitchell Robinson. The Knicks have been very good against bad teams and middling against good teams. Who declines the most? It’s Robinson, and it’s on both sides of the ball. The good defenses defend him well, and they are also willing to foul him and put him on the line, where his sub-50% mark means “hack-a-Mitchell” is in play from tipoff. — Oliver
They reach the NBA Finals. If it weren’t obvious, Knicks owner James Dolan laid out the gauntlet on New York radio in January. Making the conference finals was just good enough to get Thibodeau fired. Beating Boston, Detroit, Cleveland or anyone else is the bare minimum. The Knicks were built to win this season, and there could be consequences on some level if they came up short again. — Goodwill
Did the Cavs’ big four have enough time to jell? Thanks to a combination of ill-timed injuries, the quartet of Mitchell, Harden, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen entered the final week of the regular season having played six games and 76 total minutes together. The good news for the Cavs is that they are outscoring opponents by 35 points during those minutes, but it’s a small sample for Cleveland’s best players before they have to win on a playoff stage. — Collier
Harden. The key for Cleveland is the counter to Mitchell, who dictates winning and losing so much for the Cavs that when he’s down, the whole team is down. When the Cavs lost in the second round last year, he had a couple of bad games and his teammates couldn’t pick him up. Their key player in this postseason could be Harden, Allen or Mobley, but they need one of them to provide that counter. — Oliver
They reach the conference finals. The Cavaliers haven’t made it that far without LeBron James since 1992, and current franchise star Mitchell has never advanced past the second round. Acquiring Harden before the trade deadline only heightened expectations. — Goodwill
Betting nugget: The Cavaliers are 20-6 since acquiring Harden, who has averaged 20.5 points and 7.7 assists with the Cavs while helping elevate them to fifth in offensive rating post-All-Star break. But Cleveland ranks just 12th in defensive rating for the season, and the Cavaliers also are 20-32 against the spread versus East opponents. For a team with championship aspirations, that imbalance is hard to ignore. — Moody
Toronto was drawing dead against the Knicks, having lost all five games against New York this season, including on Friday night. But thanks to Orlando losing to Boston, the Raptors instead will face Cleveland, which they swept in their three-game season series. It’s important to note that all of those games were played before Nov. 25, but securing a series against the Cavs was a significant win for Toronto.
Is Scottie Barnes ready for the spotlight? After his cameo role as a rookie, this is the first chance for Barnes to be the leading man on a playoff team. How will he take on that challenge, and can he lead Toronto to a first-round upset? — Bontemps
Ja’Kobe Walter. Between Halloween and Thanksgiving, the Raptors went 13-1. What happened in that stretch? They played bad teams — very bad teams. These Raptors do well against bad teams. Against good teams, Brandon Ingram has been bad, Jamal Shead has been worse, Walter has been the worst. One of those guys, probably two, needs to actually show up if the Raptors are going to win a series. — Oliver
Betting nugget: The Raptors’ continuity and ball movement (29.5 assists per game, third in NBA) combined with a top-five defense (112.2 rating) make them a tougher matchup than expected: They are +425 to win the series. While Toronto’s offense is average, its ability to limit runs and play cohesively gives it staying power. Toronto has the profile to extend this series over 5.5 games (-110). The Raptors went 3-0 against the Cavaliers during the regular season. — Moody
Alexander-Walker. Johnson is the Hawks’ top guy, but Alexander-Walker is their second-best player. Alexander-Walker has the team’s second-most threshold wins, when his performance was enough to carry the team to a win. It’s what he doesn’t do — perform in the clutch — that is particularly relevant for Atlanta . Johnson has been good, but defenses know that and likely will force someone else, such as Alexander-Walker, to beat them. — Oliver
Betting nugget: Atlanta enters the series red-hot, going 20-6 post-All-Star break while ranking in the top 10 in 3-point volume and efficiency. The Hawks are also 2-1 against the spread (ATS) versus New York this season. With a more fluid offense generating 30.1 APG, Atlanta has the profile to outperform expectations and push this deeper than the market (Knicks -290 to win the series) suggests. — Moody
The 76ers entered the 2024-25 campaign with championship expectations, only to spectacularly crash and burn. This season, they had almost no expectations, and yet managed to make it into the playoffs and — at least in theory — have the players to make a deep playoff run in the wide-open East. — Bontemps
Can Philadelphia stay healthy? For a team that’s constantly dealing with one health issue after another, especially with Joel Embiid, any chance of being a factor in the playoffs will come down to whether the 76ers can get their team on the floor. — Bontemps
At this point, getting through the play-in would constitute something salvageable for the 76ers. With Embiid’s emergency appendectomy putting his postseason status in danger, it’s impossible to place real expectations on this team. It’s been a year full of fits, starts and glimpses of potential, but it’s unfair to expect Maxey to carry this team into the first round by himself. — Goodwill
Betting nugget: The 76ers are 19-22 without Embiid this season and 2-1 ATS against the Magic, with two of those games going over the total. But there’s a case to fade those trends. Philadelphia lacks offensive firepower without Embiid, and Orlando’s size in the frontcourt could create matchup problems. And Maxey is playing through a finger injury — Eric Moody
Betting nugget: Orlando has been elite in clutch games this season, but that hasn’t fully translated to betting value. The Magic are just 1-2 ATS against Philadelphia and 10-10 as a road underdog, which may concern bettors. However, Orlando’s size with Wagner, Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. could pose problems for a 76ers team without Embiid. — Moody
Brandon Miller. Miller can have some terrible games and some great games; by metrics, he is the most inconsistent Hornet. Charlotte, facing a high seed in the first round, needs a wild card like Miller, who can scare the favorites into changing their game plan. But the Hornets also likely will want to get ahead and stay ahead. They have the worst clutch record of any potential playoff team. — Oliver
It already should be. The Hornets have been a second-half surprise, vaulting themselves from 12 games under .500 to one of the most potent offenses in the NBA in the new year, scoring 120.8 points per 100 possessions post January. But nobody expected them to be in this playoff puzzle, so whatever Ball, Knueppel and Co. accomplish in the postseason is a bonus and a great building block for next season. — Goodwill
Even with Jimmy Butler III long gone, the Heat have endured a roller coaster season. Miami’s offense opened the season looking explosive, only to hover slightly above .500 in late February. They won seven straight and watched Bam Adebayo detonate for 83 points in early March before dropping 10 of the next 13. Miami’s defense has sputtered, surrendering 120 or more points 13 times since Mar. 6. — Youngmisuk
Adebayo. Miami made a farce of its first-round series a year ago, getting swept by the Cavs and losing the last two games by an average of 46 points. For organizational pride, they cannot do that again. The player most in charge of that is Adebayo, who brought a lot of pride with his 83-point game last month. The Heat need him to do something harder than 83 points: make everyone better in order to match the top seed they’ll face. — Oliver