NBA Games to Watch in the Last Weekend of the Regular Season

The NBA Playoffs are rapidly approaching, but plenty of teams are still fighting for playoff positioning as the regular season comes to an end.

Every team has two games remaining, and they will all play on Friday, Apr. 10 and Sunday, Apr. 12 to close the season.

In the Western Conference, while the No. 1, No. 2, No. 6, No. 7, and No. 10 seeds are all locked into place, the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Houston Rockets are all fighting for the No. 3 seed.

The prospective No. 3 seed, of course, would avoid the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round, should they beat the No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.

In the Eastern Conference, the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers are fighting for the No. 3 seed, while seeds No. 5 through No. 9 are separated by just two games.

Closing the season in the top-six is massive, as those teams can avoid the Play-In, and one of the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks, or Orlando Magic will end up there.

First, let's take a look at the Western Conference playoff picture, with each locked seed in bold, as well as who each team plays against in their final two games of the season:

Western Conference Playoff Picture

Team	Record	Friday Game	Sunday Game
No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder	64-16	@ Denver Nuggets	vs. Phoenix Suns
No. 2 San Antonio Spurs	61-19	vs. Dallas Mavericks	vs. Denver Nuggets
No. 3 Denver Nuggets	52-28	vs. Oklahoma City Thunder	@ San Antonio Spurs
No. 4 Los Angeles Lakers	51-29	vs. Phoenix Suns	vs. Utah Jazz
No. 5 Houston Rockets	51-29	vs. Minnesota Timberwolves	vs. Memphis Grizzlies
No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves	47-33	@ Houston Rockets	vs. New Orleans Pelicans
No. 7 Phoenix Suns	44-36	@ Los Angeles Lakers	@ Oklahoma City Thunder
No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers	41-39	@ Portland Trail Blazers	vs. Golden State Warriors
No. 9 Portland Trail Blazers	40-40	vs. Los Angeles Clippers	vs. Sacramento Kings
No. 10 Golden State Warriors	37-43	@ Sacramento Kings	@ Los Angeles Clippers

Games to Watch in the Western Conference

Nuggets vs. Thunder, Nuggets vs. Spurs

It will be a wild race for the conference's three seed as teams try to balance health and playoff positioning. Is it worth playing Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray and co. to get the No. 3 seed, or should the Nuggets try to enter the playoffs as healthy as possible, even if it means playing OKC in the second round?

Denver should win tonight's game against an OKC team without all its top players, but it's OKC and they seem to always win regardless of who's playing.

The San Antonio game could also be tricky. It's on the road against another deep team, and Victor Wembanyama might suit up for 20+ minutes in order to be eligible for regular season awards.

Denver could go 0-2 as easily as they could go 2-0. Going 1-1 would also give the Lakers a window to jump them, as LA holds the tiebreaker over Denver and has two home games to close.

Lakers vs. Suns, Lakers vs. Jazz

The Lakers will most likely beat the Jazz in their final game of the season, which makes this Suns game exciting for viewers.

The Suns are already locked into the seventh seed, so they have nothing to play for and Devin Booker will most likely sit the last two games. With the Lakers missing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, the Suns are still favored to win the game (-2.5 spread).

The Lakers will hope Denver drops one game, allowing them to sneak into the No. 3 seed with two wins.

Rockets vs. Timberwolves, Rockets vs. Grizzlies

The Rockets are in a tougher position to claim the No. 3 seed as both the Nuggets and Lakers hold the tiebreaker over them, but they do have an easy schedule to close.

Houston, on an eight-game winning streak, closes with a Timberwolves team that has nothing to play for and the tanking Grizzlies. They should finish 2-0 and hope that the Lakers drop one game and Denver drops both games.

Clippers vs. Trail Blazers

In a battle for Play-In position, the Blazers and Clippers face off in a battle for the No. 8 seed.

Portland holds the tiebreaker over the Clips and would most likely finish as the No. 8 seed with a win over LA, as they close with the tanking Kings.

Let's move on the Eastern Conference.

Eastern Conference Playoff Picture

Team	Record	Friday Game	Sunday Game
No. 1 Detroit Pistons	58-22	@ Charlotte Hornets	@ Indiana Pacers
No. 2 Boston Celtics	54-26	vs. New Orleans Pelicans	vs. Orlando Magic
No. 3 New York Knicks	52-28	vs. Toronto Raptors	vs. Charlotte Hornets
No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers	51-29	@ Atlanta Hawks	vs. Washington Wizards
No. 5 Toronto Raptors	45-35	@ New York Knicks	vs. Brooklyn Nets
No. 6 Atlanta Hawks	45-35	vs. Cleveland Cavaliers	@ Miami Heat
No. 7 Orlando Magic	44-36	@ Chicago Bulls	@ Boston Celtics
No. 8 Philadelphia 76ers	43-37	@ Indiana Pacers	vs. Milwaukee Bucks
No. 9 Charlotte Hornets	43-37	vs. Detroit Pistons	@ New York Knicks
No. 10 Miami Heat	41-39	@ Washington Wizards	vs. Atlanta Hawks

With only one team, the Pistons, locking up their seed, there is plenty to watch for in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics will lock in the No. 2 seed with a win over the Pelicans, but an unexpected loss could open the door up for the Knicks.

The Cavs are also hunting for the No. 2 seed, but with the Knicks holding the tiebreaker, it'll be hard to pass them.

Almost all games in the Eastern Conference are worth watching, but these are the games that I would watch with limited time in day.

Games to Watch in the Eastern Conference

Hawks vs. Cavs, Hawks vs. Heat

With seeds 5-9 crowded with teams with wins in the mid-40s, these next couple of games are very important for the Hawks. They could end up finishing at the No. 5 spot, the best case scenario, or could slide down into the Play-In, a disastrous scenario.

Raptors vs. Knicks

The Knicks have interesting qualm in front of them. Do they remain locked into the No. 3 seed, even if it means facing the former championship-winning Celtics in the second round, or do they hope to finish with the No. 4 seed and play the young and unproven Pistons?

The Raptors will be hoping to hold on to the No. 5 seed rather than dropping down the No. 6 as they most likely feel they have a better chance of beating the Cavs than the Knicks in the first round.

Hornets vs. Pistons

Even if the Pistons sit most of their guys, this should be a fantastic game between the high-powered Hornets offense and the lockdown Pistons defense.

Charlotte is looking to get in better Play-In positioning, as there's a huge difference in being the No. 8 seed compared to the No. 9 seed.

If all goes right, the Hornets could even skip out on the Play-In entirely as they hold the tiebreaker over the Magic and Hawks.

It should be an extremely fun weekend of NBA basketball with lots on the line. With the playoffs being so matchup dependent, it'll be interesting to see which seeds these teams desire.

Read the latest NBA news on site.