The Milwaukee Bucks secured the Eastern Conference’s final automatic playoff spot on Saturday, then capped the night with a 121-115 overtime win against the Miami Heat.
The Bucks had been assured of their ninth consecutive playoff appearance following the Atlanta Hawks’ 121-105 defeat to the New York Knicks earlier in the day.
The loss meant the Hawks could no longer mathematically force their way into the playoff spots and will now have to enter the four-team play-in tournament which will determine the final two postseason berths from the East.
That took the pressure off the Bucks in their road game against Miami, but they nevertheless produced a gritty performance to take down the Heat in overtime.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 36 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for a triple-double, while Kevin Porter Jr. added 24 from the bench.
Bam Adebayo led Miami’s scoring with 31 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. The Heat will enter the play-in tournament alongside Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando.
While the race for top six positions in the Eastern Conference is now complete, the battle in the Western Conference remains on a knife-edge with six teams locked in a neck-and-neck battle to secure the four remaining slots behind already-qualified Oklahoma City and second-placed Houston.
With the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors both winning Friday, the race tightened further on Saturday with the sixth-placed Memphis Grizzlies (46-32) and seventh-placed Minnesota Timberwolves (46-32) grabbing vital wins.
The Grizzlies dug deep to defeat the Detroit Pistons 109-103 on the road, with Desmond Bane pouring in 38 points with seven rebounds and three assists.
Jaren Jackson Jr. added 27 points while center Zach Edey had a huge defensive performance with 21 rebounds.
Detroit star Cade Cunningham led the Pistons’ scoring with 25 points.
In Philadelphia, the Timberwolves remained firmly in the Western Conference playoff hunt by defeating the depleted 76ers 114-109.
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 37 points while defensive linchpin Rudy Gobert had 23 points, 19 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was unhappy with his team’s performance, but singled out France star Gobert for praise in helping the team close out the victory.
“(Gobert) refuses to let us lose on nights like this when you can argue that we probably should have,” Finch said.
“All credit to him. We highlighted his performance in the locker room – we need more guys playing with that intentionality.
“We had a bunch of guys who didn’t play well today and the energy goes down around that. Our offense is sputtering. We gotta make more energy plays, get guys going.”