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The LA Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks came out of the play-in tournament to book the No.7 seeds in their respective Conference.
LA had ample opportunity to book the sixth seed but ended up in the play-in tournament after finishing seventh in the regular season. The Minnesota Timberwolves saw Karl-Anthony Towns and Mike Conley Jr. score 23 and 24 points respectively, but came up short in overtime.
The Hawks saw their bench support Trae Young offensively. Clint Capela scored 4 points but had 21 rebounds as the Hawks easily outscored the Miami Heat. Kyle Lowry top-scored with 33 points and Jimmy Butler and company will now be hoping to win the 8th seed game.
Here are the matchups for the playoffs:
Western Conference
- Denver Nuggets vs. 8th seed from play-in
- Memphis Grizzlies vs LA Lakers
- Sacramento Kings vs. Golden State Warriors
- Phoenix Suns vs. LA Clippers
Eastern Conference
- Milwaukee Bucks vs. Winner of No. 8 seed play-in
- Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks
- Philadelphia 76ers vs. Brooklyn Nets
- Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks
LA Lakers and Atlanta Hawks clinch 7th seeds in NBA playoffs
The Lakers were the favorites against the Timberwolves, but made things more complicated than they needed to be. They got off to a slow start and covered an 11-point deficit in the second half, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis coming up with the goods.
LAL came out 108-102 winners in overtime after James finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Dennis Schroder came off the bench to score 21 while Davis finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds. The Lakers will now take on the Memphis Grizzlies next, which will be an even sterner test.
In the East, the Atlanta Hawks continue to rely on Trae Young’s brilliance, despite rumors about the player being pushed towards a move.
He finished with 25 points and 8 rebounds as four Hawks players came off the bench to score more than 10 points (Jalen Johnson, Saddiq Bey, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Onyeka Okungwu).
The Hawks will be hopeful of some more brilliance from Young as they come up against a strong Boston Celtics side in the first round of the playoffs.
